Under a Cloud
by Ken
Summary: The world is threatened by an enemy the Sailor Senshi have absolutely, positively no hope of defeating.


This is my fourth Sailor Moon fan fiction short story. It mostly takes place shortly after the end of the Nephrenia story in the Sailor Stars series (fifth and last season). There are some spoilers, though I have tried to keep those to a minimum. There are only minor references to events in my previous stories, it is not necessary to have read them to understand what is going on.

The story contains characters and situations created by Naoko Takeuchi. All the usual fanfic disclaimers apply.

Ken Wolfe

Under a Cloud

Walking past the OSA P jewellery store reminded Kasukabe that he hadn't gotten his wife's birthday present yet. He checked the time. Wouldn't hurt to pop in for a few minutes, at least have a look. He still had a few days, so he didn't necessarily need to get anything just now.

The glass doors slid aside for him and he walked in. It was pretty busy, there were women browsing at all the counters. Lots of schoolgirls too, surprisingly many for an upscale place like this. In fact, as he walked over to the nearest display case he was beginning to think this might be rather too rich for his blood. He had been passed up for the promotion to section chief last month and bonuses weren't like they had been in the bubble economy. Even with their tiny apartment, it was all they could do just to make ends meet.

Mind you, some of the items seemed to be drastically marked down. He was looking at a really dazzling broach for just 30,000 yen. No, at that price, those **couldn't** be real, could they? Was he seeing things? He blinked, suddenly finding it hard to focus his eyes. Pushing myself too hard as usual, he decided. Well, welcome to the Nineties. He closed his eyes to rest them for a second, but that just seemed to make things worse. He leaned on the display case for support. Wouldn't do to keel over in front of all these people. He opened his eyes again, hoping that would end his dizzy spell.

Half the people in the shop were slumped down on the floor. The rest

looked as if they would soon follow suit. **What the hell?**

The briefcase slipped out of his fingers just before his knees gave out. He slid down against the display case, thinking this felt something like the last time his buddies at work had managed to get him severely drunk. He felt he should either look around to figure out what was going on or maybe just catch some sleep right here. But either looking around or closing his eyes entailed movement, and right now it was so nice to just lie here not moving. It was like all the energy had been drained out of him. All the energy.

Some time passed. Maybe lots of time, maybe not. Then something happened that seemed worth the effort of turning to look. Hard to see. An angel? An angry, avenging angel. She had come for somebody. Not for him, it seemed, she was talking to somebody else.

Suddenly he had some of his energy back and somebody was telling him that the angel was very bad and he had to go help punish her. He didn't understand, but somebody was telling him this so it must be true. He rose clumsily to his feet and shuffled over to her. She showed fear, so she must be a bad angel. She ran. She was very quick. But there were many others to help him, so they would get her. He got very weak again a couple of times, and nearly fell down. But they finally trapped her, there was nowhere for her to run anymore.

The angel screamed. His mind shattered. Blackness.

# # # #

Kaori helped the girl to her feet. "Thank you, officer," the girl said wearily.

"You're welcome," she replied with a comforting smile. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you. Um, can I go now?"

"The paramedics had a look at you, right?" Kaori asked, knowing they had.

"Yes. They said I was okay."

"Well then, if you feel okay you can just leave your name and address

with the officer over there. We might be around later to ask a few questions, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you." The girl bowed politely and went over to where Kaori had pointed.

Kaori had another look around the OSA P shop. Other officers and paramedics were busy processing the people who had collapsed here. She could see the lieutenant interviewing the shop owner. The poor woman had been bound and gagged in the basement, she looked very distraught. Her daughter looked even more spooked, like she had seen a... well, Kaori had already interviewed a couple of the other women, this was going to be a dammed strange report.

She noticed a young man in a suit and topcoat, seated at a chair nearby, staring blankly into space. She was sure she had seen the paramedics examine him, but... something about the look in his eye prompted her to go check up on him.

She leaned down in front of him. "Good day, sir. Have the doctors been to see you?"

He nodded, still staring at nothing. "Yes," he said in a blank, low voice.

She had thought she should let him recover a bit from... whatever it was, before interviewing him, but somehow leaving him alone in this state didn't seem right. "If you feel up to it I'd like to ask you a bit about what happened here. Could I just get your name?" she asked, flipping open her notebook.

He finally looked at her with those vacant, haunted eyes. He shook his head slowly. "I don't remember," he breathed.

# # # #

Nomura looked at the plate he had just developed in the darkroom and his heart sank. Was that a flaw in the film? Oh God, anything but that. It had taken him months to get some time booked on the hundred centimetre scope. Of all the luck!

He took a magnifying glass and had a closer look. He knew the Aquarius constellation like the back of his hand by now, there should be two bright stars **there** and **there**. In fact, if he looked closely there were no stars at **all** in this part of the picture. But he had seen what pictures from flawed film looked like, this just didn't fit.

Something occurred to him. No, couldn't be that.

He went to the archive room and switched on the lights, illuminating rows

of file cabinets. It was eerily quiet, nobody else was about at this hour. A few minutes of searching got him what he wanted: plates from a survey of that part of Aquarius from a few weeks ago. Then more from a few months ago.

"Just checking," he muttered to himself as he took the plates with him.

No, it couldn't be that.

Some time later he had three plates up against the backlit glass panel, side by side. Seen together, they told the story vividly. A hole in the sky, slowly opening up, expanding. Heading right for them.

Aquarius. Should I go look up...? No, do some rough calculations first.

Booting one of the workstations and a visit to an American internet site

got him the programs he needed. But he still had to adapt them to what he needed to calculate. Two pots of coffee later, he stared bleary-eyed at the results of his labours. A date. Well, a month actually. And even that was basis a lot of assumptions.

**Now** I'll go look it up, he thought. He went to the Miscellaneous cabinet. Yuki would probably know exactly where it is, she had been at the observatory much longer than he had. Hell, she would **be** here soon, it was that time of the morning already. He started leafing through the files. "Ah-hah." He grinned. Two thick folders labelled "Cranks, Harmless," and "Cranks, Scary." Simple, direct, to the point. He took out the former and started flipping through letters and newspaper articles. **There.** A letter dated... over a year ago! Had it been that long? Funny the little things that stay with you, Nomura thought to himself as he read the letter.

He came to the important part, and his jaw dropped down. Suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore.

# # # #

"Tell your fortune, young lady?" Rei asked politely, her fingers steepled in front of her.

Makoto grinned. "No thanks, you've probably stacked the deck," she replied, tapping the deck of tarot cards sitting on the table at Rei's booth.

"Oh ye of little faith," Rei said, feigning indignation. She got up and stretched. "Just as well, I'm bushed."

"Plenty of customers this time?" Makoto asked.

"Mm Hmm. It was a good festival." She looked around to see that a lot of other booths on the school grounds were being dismantled. The school festival was winding down. "I never get to see much of it, of course, too busy guiding everyone's quest for love and fortune."

"Need any help closing down?"

"No, they'll come around for the table and stuff later. The set-up for my booth is pretty simple," Rei said, waving the little box of tarot cards then pocketing it. "So can you still come over to the temple and help me with the pickling?"

"Oh, I've made a point of setting aside the time. Otherwise, you'd probably have Minako coming to help instead." They shared a knowing look. That batch had been positively inedible.

"Then I guess we can go," Rei said. She brushed at the shrine maiden robes she'd been sitting in all day, trying to make them more presentable. Then she came around from behind her booth and they both started heading for the gate to the school grounds.

"I've always wondered how you managed to get a tarot card reading booth approved at a Catholic school. Don't the Sisters consider that... I don't know, pagan?"

"Well, as long as I don't do it in the chapel," Rei answered, and they both laughed. "As far as they're concerned, it's all just good fun. Besides, being in this country, they have to be pretty flexible. How does the saying go... we're born Shinto, get married as Christians and get buried as Buddhists."

"Yeah. We've just got schizophrenic souls. Say, that reminds me, do you remember Riko?"

"Sure." Riko had been a good friend of Makoto's in her old junior high school, but they had lost touch after Makoto was transferred to Usagi's school. They had gotten reacquainted when they both entered Juban High School a few weeks ago. Rei had met her once or twice. "Why do you ask?"

"She's been telling me about some new church out in Shibaura that she and her mother just joined."

"Shibaura? That's not exactly a short commute from here."

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of odd, them going to a church way out there. But get this. They call themselves the Church of the Silver Millennium."

Rei stopped dead in her tracks. "You're joking!"

Makoto stopped and turned to smile at her. "That's what she told me. I just about fell over. Pretty strange, huh?"

Rei pondered this for a moment. "Well, I guess it's not too weird. I mean, all sorts of new churches have sprung up in Tokyo over the past few years, a lot of them are called Millennium this and Millennium that."

"That's true," Makoto said, more serious now. "Lots of weird cults and stuff have started up too."

**Ah-hah.** Rei had suspected this was leading up to something. "Did she tell you much about this church?"

"No, not really. Just that their Minister makes some predictions about the future. Sounds like it's pretty small. She hasn't exactly asked me, I think she's too shy, but I can tell she'd like me to go out there. It sounds like she and her mother are pretty fired up about it."

"And that's what worries you," Rei said simply.

Makoto looked down, embarrassed. "I used to sort of watch out for her, I felt kind of guilty about not keeping in touch. When she told me about this... well, it sounds kind of weird and I'm worried."

"Do you think she would mind if I tagged along?"

Makoto scratched the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. "Gee, am I that transparent?"

"You should give up on being subtle, Mako-chan. You're far too honest for it."

"Well, since you put it that way I don't feel so bad. Seriously, I would be grateful if you could come along with me and check the place out."

"I'd be happy to," Rei said, her warm smile then becoming more mischievous. "It never hurts to check out the competition."

# # # #

It turned out that Riko's mother suddenly had to work that evening.

Trying to raise a child by herself she was hardly in a position to refuse overtime. Riko was beside herself thanking Makoto and Rei for coming with her, she hated making the trip by herself. They got on the subway and conversation soon drifted to other matters. Rei's first impressions of Makoto's friend were simply being reinforced. She was a nice enough girl, but she sure could relax a bit. Very high-strung and unsure of herself. Perfect candidate for a cult. She could see why Makoto was worried.

It was a long train ride and a long walk, so it was getting dark by the time they arrived. And a good thing Riko is here to guide us, Rei thought. The address would have been a challenge to locate even for a native Tokyoite. Even once they got here, the only thing indicating they were at the right place was a little sign at the door listing all the occupants of the nondescript little commercial building.

Two flights of stairs brought them to a hallway down which Rei could see a set of double glass doors wedged open. As they went through the doors, Rei glimpsed a symbol painted on the glass just above the church name: it was a round crystal that looked very familiar to her. Crystals are a mainstay of New Age churches, she reminded herself. It didn't mean anything.

The anteroom they entered was obviously intended as the entrance to an office or business, though some work with wood panelling had been done to try and make it warmer, more like the entrance to a church. Several umbrellas in the rack to one side indicated that others had already arrived.

On the other side of the anteroom was another set of open double doors.

There was a young man in a suit standing there, hands clasped in front of him. He was unremarkable in appearance, medium height and build, close cut hair receding slightly. Rei would have pictured him an accountant or something, not a minister. He looked at Riko and gave her a familiar smile as they approached. That simple act brought about a remarkable transformation. His nervous, harried look evaporated, to be replaced by the natural ease of a leader greeting one of his followers. He must be the minister, then.

"Good Evening, Sensei," Riko said, stopping in front of him and bowing.

"Welcome, Riko-san," the man replied.

"My mother sends her regrets, she suddenly had to work tonight, she was very sorry that she could not attend," Riko said very politely, bowing again.

"Not at all. Give my best to her when you see her."

"Thank you, I will. I've brought two friends with me today," Riko said, managing to sound proud and embarrassed all at the same time.

"So I see," the man said, glancing at Rei and Makoto. "I was about to say how pleased I am to see two new faces... but I could swear I have met you two pretty young ladies before," he said, looking at the two girls with a slightly puzzled look.

"No, I don't believe we've met," Rei said. "This is our first time here. I'm Hino Rei, pleased to meet you."

"Kasukabe Ryuichi, pleased to meet you," the man said bowing slightly.

"Kino Makoto, pleased to meet you," Rei heard her friend say absently.

She glanced over to Makoto, to see that her attention had been grabbed by something inside the church. Rei had been so focused on this man, on getting her first impression of him, she hadn't so much as looked in. She shifted her eyes over, intending to spare the room a quick glance... and her eyes locked on it involuntarily as her mind was cast back to another time. Marble columns on each side of her, leading to a domed building like a larger version of the Taj Mahal in the distance, the Earth hanging like a jewel above it. Queen Serenity's palace, the place they had seen in a vision just before their final battle with the Dark Kingdom. The place where they had lived their previous lives, lived and died...

"What do you think of our little place?" Kasukabe asked, watching Rei intently.

Rei blinked, feeling much as she did after coming out of a fire oracle trance. "It's... a very striking image," she managed to say, trying to recover.

"It's beautiful," Makoto breathed, still staring.

Oh boy, it hit her worse than me, Rei thought. "Riko tells me you are the founder of the church," Rei said, trying to draw Kasukabe's attention away from Makoto, give her time to recover. He confirmed that he was. The church had been here for about a year now. He claimed about two hundred followers.

A couple with two small children walked in through the glass doors, which served as an excuse for the three girls to go sit down. Entering the room, Rei could see that the reality was a far cry from the remarkable vision it had inspired. The columns were some sort of big tubes that had been cut in half and put against the left and right walls at regular intervals, to make it look like they were embedded in the walls from floor to ceiling. They had been painted in a rough attempt to simulate marble. The far wall was covered by a mural. The building in its centre was probably based on a picture of the Taj Mahal after all, Rei decided. A few embellishments had been added, such as little crescent moons sitting on top of each dome. Before it was a garden and a great rectangular pool of water draw in perspective down to the bottom of the mural. Behind it were jagged mountains, something like the way everyone thought mountains on the moon would look like before there were any good pictures of them. Above the mountains was a starry sky with the Earth high to the left. None of it was particularly well done, just adequate to the task of depicting an exotic palace on the moon.

There were rows of folding metal chairs to each side. A young couple to their left waved at Riko, who waved back. That seemed to settle where they would be sitting. As they made introductions and exchanged pleasantries, part of Rei's mind was trying to decide how much of what she was seeing here could be passed off as a remarkable coincidence.

Presently, Kasukabe took his place at the little podium in front of the mural, and the murmuring of the various little clustered groups in the congregation died down. "I would like to welcome you all tonight," he began. "I would especially like to welcome all those who are joining us for the first time. I am very happy to see many new faces before me today. We have done much work to spread the word of the Moon Goddess, but much, much more remains to be done. I believe that the Moon Goddess will show mercy to all those who are deserving, whatever their creed, wherever they may be. But I also believe that much can be done to prepare for her coming, to tell people how they can prepare for her coming. I believe that those who know of the coming of the Moon Goddess can do much to make themselves worthy of her divine mercy."

Rei listened intently. It sounded like he was predicting the coming of a redeemer. She wished she had decided to grill Riko at least a little about Kasukabe's predictions on the way here, to get some idea of what he was about.

Kasukabe's warm smile broadened. "Today I would like to share some remarkable news with you. As many of you know, around the time I founded our church I sent a letter out to many universities and observatories. In it I explained some of the vision that the Moon Goddess had granted to me. I explained how the Great Cloud would come upon us, when it would come and where it would come from. I asked them to watch for the Great Cloud, so that they might see with their own eyes what the Moon Goddess had warned us to prepare for.

"My friends, today I am happy to tell you that this effort has borne fruit. We have with us today a man who has seen the Great Cloud with his own eyes. He is a man of science, used to dealing in facts and mathematics. But when he saw the cloud appear before his eyes exactly as the Moon Goddess predicted, he realized the importance of what he was seeing. He remembered my entreaty, and just days ago came to me, telling of what he has seen. We owe him a great debt, for he has brought us irrefutable proof of the truth behind the prophecy of the Moon Goddess. The approaching cloud he has seen through his telescope is a fact that cannot be disputed. Since I am no man of science, I would like to have the newest member of our church tell you in his own words what he has seen." Kasukabe's eyes settled on a man sitting in the front row. "I would like to invite Professor Nomura Ken to come speak."

Rei's mind was racing. None of this was making sense. Her vision of the Silver Millennium, this innocuous looking man talking about prophecies of a Moon Goddess, and now this astronomer come to talk about gas clouds or something, it was all so surreal.

The man who took the podium was pale and a bit overweight, wearing a suit that he might have fit in a few years ago. He looked very nervous and uncomfortable as he stumbled through his self introduction, naming the university and observatory where he worked. With awkward fits and starts, Professor Nomura began to talk about some observations he had made with his telescope. He was obviously unused to speaking to a general audience, for there were whole sections of his talk that were no more than techno-babble to her. Occasionally he would realize that he wasn't being understood, and would apologetically go back and explain certain points. Eventually, he got his point across. His observations of the Aquarius constellation had stumbled upon a gas cloud that appeared to be growing. The only explanation was that it was headed straight for them, headed straight for the solar system. His initial calculations showed that it would arrive in the vicinity of the sun in a few months' time, exactly as Kasukabe had predicted in his letter.

His talk about solar radiation and gas opacity eventually led to another point, which he delivered in the same nervous monotone that he maintained throughout his talk. Once the gas cloud was here, it would blot out the sun altogether. Rei glanced around the room, tried to gauge people's reactions. There were a couple of people showing subtle signs of their feelings of incredulity. Probably other newcomers. Most people were absorbing this with no reaction at all, or at most a little nod of approval here and there. It was as if this just confirmed what they knew, as if it were old news.

Finally, Professor Nomura brought it home. "When Kasukabe-sensei wrote his letter to our observatory over a year ago, the gas cloud would have been too far away for any telescope on Earth or in space to have detected it, even if we knew exactly where to look. His prediction is too exact to be coincidence. The only explanation is that his vision must be true. He could not have made this prediction without divine guidance. That is why I am here." An awkward pause. "Uh... thank you." He was done.

Kasukabe took the podium again. Rei only half listened to his sermon as she tried to make sense of all this. She didn't know what to be more concerned about, these uncanny references to the Silver Millennium or the ominous signs that she had entered a millennial doom cult. Kasukabe's words were calm and gentle, entreating people to accept the coming calamity as the dawning of a new age, to have faith that the Moon Goddess would protect them. He then talked a bit about how they could prepare their souls for her coming. His sermon was somewhat unfocused, like most new religions he was drawing ideas and catch-phrases from all sorts of places, particularly Shinto. That was probably just because, like most Japanese, that was his most prominent religious background. His mishmash of derivative ideas on spirituality was clearly secondary to the primary message in his vision: the coming of the redeemer.

The sermon ended with a simple prayer to the Moon Goddess. On their way out, Rei and Makoto made their contributions at the collection box as was required by simple politeness if nothing else. As Kasukabe thanked them and gave them his blessing, Rei could see that same look of deja vu his face had assumed upon their arrival. He didn't say anything this time, but he really looked to be convinced that they had met before.

Riko was simply bubbling with excitement on the way home, eager to tell her mother all about the news this astronomer had brought. Rei was a little dazed by the experience and she could see that Makoto was too. Riko picked up on this, probably unconsciously, and conversation soon moved to the more prosaic trials and tribulations of high school life.

They parted company near the subway station, with Riko leaving Rei and Makoto to wait at the otherwise deserted bus shelter. Makoto looked at Rei, her expression suddenly serious. "So what do you think?" she asked, giving up on subtlety and getting right to the point.

Rei looked aside and took a moment to collect her thoughts before answering. "Well, he's obviously sincere about what he's saying, I'm pretty sure he's not a scam artist or anything. If tonight is any indication, the contributions he's getting would barely be adequate to maintain even that small place. He's not fleecing anybody. And I didn't get any feeling of danger from him, I just couldn't imagine him being fanatical, or asking anyone else to be. In fact, he still seems rather uncomfortable with his role there, even after leading the church for over a year. I think he'd rather be doing something else. But he really does seem to believe in this redeemer he's predicting."

"Do you think there's anything to it? I mean, what that professor was talking about."

Rei shrugged. "I couldn't say. When he started I thought they were playing some elaborate trick on us, but I don't think he's any less sincere than their minister. As for whether there's any truth to it... well, I'll have to give that some thought."

Makoto smiled. "Sure." They both understood what that meant: Rei would be spending some time chanting in front of a fire. "Oh, and thanks for covering for me when I was gawking at that church," Makoto continued. "That really threw me for a loop."

"Yeah, you and me both," Rei said, smiling sympathetically. "I've seen a lot of stuff in new churches that made me look twice - pictures of temples on the moon and such - but never anything like that. For a second I felt like I was seeing that vision again."

"I know, I felt the same way." Makoto laughed nervously. "But then I got a closer look and it was a bit of a let-down."

They both laughed at that. Rei felt a bit better, getting positive reinforcement from her friend's observation. Yes, it had just been a bad mural that triggered an old memory, she told herself. Nothing more than that.

# # # #

Rei saw the man approaching down the path to her temple. She looked up from her weeding and was about to welcome him when she suddenly recognized him. She tossed an uprooted weed into the bucket and stood up. "Kasukabe-sensei, what a surprise," she said.

"Good day, Hino-san," Kasukabe said, smiling warmly and bowing. "I hope you won't think me presumptuous, but I asked Riko a bit about her friends and she told me all about the beautiful shrine you work at. I wanted to come pay my respects, and at least thank you for coming to visit our humble church."

"That's very nice of you, Kasukabe-sensei. Would you like me to show you around?" Rei found herself warming to his friendly manner. His gratitude was genuine, not just an obligatory courtesy call.

"Oh don't trouble yourself, I can see you're busy. I'll just take a moment to go pray at the shrine."

"Well, I'm actually pretty much done here. If it's okay and you don't mind waiting a moment, I can put this stuff away and come join you."

Kasukabe smiled, clearly pleased. "Thank you, I'd like that very much."

Rei took a moment to lock her bucket and work gloves in the tool shed and went to join Kasukabe again. They walked over to the front of the shrine. Kasukabe pulled the thick rope that hung before the shrine to rattle the bells overhead, and they knelt side by side in silent prayer for several minutes.

"This is my first visit to Hikawa Shrine," Kasukabe said as they walked away from the shrine. "It's rare to find a big, beautiful shrine in an open space like this in the heart of the city."

"Thank you," Rei said, accepting the implied compliment. "My Grandfather runs the shrine. I've lived here most of my life, so it's very special to me."

"That's obvious, from the way you've so lovingly maintain it."

"Would you like to stay for some tea?" Rei asked, deciding she wouldn't mind listening to more of these compliments.

"Thank you, I'd love to." As they walked leisurely towards the shrine residence, Kasukabe looked around. "Your friends must like coming to visit you here."

"Sure, we have a big house here so it's a nice place for having friends over."

"No doubt. Being used to such beautiful surroundings, I was just wondering why you and your friend seemed so enraptured by my humble little place of worship."

That took Rei by surprise. "Well, as I said before, it's quite a striking picture. Particularly that mural."

Kasukabe chuckled. "Oh, I don't imagine you were awed by my artistic talents."

"You painted that yourself?" Rei asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, I rendered my vision as best I could. I'm obviously no professional, so I'm used to people being underwhelmed by my work the first time they see it. You and Makoto-san, though... it was almost like you had a vision of your own." He stopped and turned to look intently at Rei. "When I found out about your spiritual background, I was particularly eager to come and ask you about what you saw."

Oh great, now what? Rei asked herself. "I'm not sure what I saw, Kasukabe-sensei," Rei asked, delaying while she worked on a non-committal answer. Could she just say it looked like a picture from a Sailor V manga or something?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw somebody approach. She glanced over and recognized them: a woman who had come here a few days ago. As then, she was leading her young daughter firmly by the hand. The woman was hesitant, but as soon as Rei made eye contact she smiled shyly and came closer. Kasukabe also looked over, becoming aware of their approach.

The woman bowed to Rei. "I'm very sorry to interrupt you..." she said hesitantly.

"Not at all, welcome back to our shrine, Ma'am" Rei said, unable to recall the woman's name for the moment.

"I just wanted to come and thank you for helping us find my little girl's puppy."

Now Rei remembered more clearly. She had done a fire reading for them. Their dog had gotten away from them in a crowded station and they were afraid it had wandered onto a subway train. Her reading had suggested the Shinjuku area.

"He was being held by the pound in Shinjuku, just like you said," the woman continued. "We would never have even thought of looking there if not for you."

Rei looked down at the little girl, who shyly returned her smile. She held a little white puppy against her with one arm. It looked around with eyes that were... well, puppy eyes.

Rei crouched down in front of the girl. "Hello, Natsumi-chan," she said, remembering the girl's name now. "Is your puppy safe and sound now?"

"Yes," the girl said, grinning ear to ear now. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. Take good care of him now, okay?"

"Okay."

"I won't take any more of your time, then," the girl's mother said when Rei stood up again. The woman bowed. "Thank you, we're very grateful."

"I'm glad I could help. Take care."

She and Kasukabe watched as the woman led her daughter towards the shrine, no doubt to give thanks there as well. "I see you have a talent for finding things," Kasukabe commented.

"I would describe it more as helping to point people in the right direction," Rei said. "I guess that's why I'm here."

"Indeed. Do you think you could find something for me too?"

"You've lost something?" Rei asked.

"I'd like to find out where my memories come from."

Rei just stared at him, unable to guess what this cryptic comment was supposed to mean. "Well, perhaps we could discuss it over tea."

They entered the formal tea room, where Rei busied herself preparing the herbal tea. When she had served them both, Kasukabe began his tale. Over a year ago, he had been caught up in a strange event at the OSA P jewellery store. He and everyone else in the store had collapsed. When they awoke some time later, they all told strange tales of a demonic hag, a man in a black cape and a screaming angel.

It was all Rei could do to hide her shock. There could be no doubt that he was describing Sailor Moon's very first encounter with a denizen of the Dark Kingdom.

"I was the only one who didn't have any strange tales to tell," Kasukabe continued. "In fact, I couldn't tell the police much of anything. It was a while before I could even remember my own name. When my wife came to pick me up at the station, I barely recognized her. I had to ask directions to my office the next day, and when I got there it was like I had never been there before. I had no idea what was going on. It was like most of my memories had been replaced by somebody else's. I had all sorts of visions of other people and places, but I had no idea who or where they might be. Only two things were very clear. One was a vision of the one I have come to call the Moon Goddess, talking to me, telling me of the coming of the Great Cloud you heard me speak of last week. The other was the vision of her palace. You've seen my poor attempt to picture it. I would not even attempt a rendering of the Moon Goddess, I don't think any artist on Earth could do her justice."

He fixed Rei with that intense, pleading look again. "So you see, I have a whole set of memories but no idea where they came from. I accept the truth of the visions, but there is more than what the Moon Goddess told me. It is like I have also been given the memories of other people in other places. But who? Where?"

Rei decided she definitely needed to find out more about this.

"Kasukabe-sensei, would you be free tomorrow evening?"

"Yes, I can be," he replied, both surprised and eager.

"If you can come by the temple again, I'd like to hear everything that you can tell me about these memories. Then perhaps a fire reading will tell us something."

# # # #

"Mommy, that cat just said something!" the little boy said, frantically pointing at Luna.

"Yes, of course it did, dear," his mother said in a bored voice, dragging the boy towards the cash register by his other hand. "Come on, Mommy needs to do some more shopping."

They departed, the boy squirming and protesting all the way. The five girls and the two cats in their usual corner booth at the Crown Cafe all breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close," Usagi said. She glared at Luna. "And you're the one who's always telling **me** to watch what I say in front of other people."

"Well, really," Luna said, her nose upturned, trying to regain some dignity. "That little brat sneaked up on us like a thief. I didn't even see that he'd crawled into the next booth."

"By tomorrow morning his whole class will know about the incredible talking cat of Juban," Makoto teased. "You'd better stay away from grade school students for a while, Luna, at least until your fame fades a bit."

Luna gave her the "Et tu, Brutus?" look. "At any rate, we should get back to the subject at hand," she said, carefully folding her legs under her and curling her tail around, in the feline version of the formal sitting position. She looked at Rei encouragingly.

"Well, Kasukabe-sensei came by yesterday evening, as we had arranged," Rei continued. "There wasn't a whole lot more he could tell me about these memories of his. Everything revolved around that palace on the moon. There was one place inside it that he did remember very vividly. It was as if he had spent a lot of time there, knew every inch of it. It was a map room of some sort. One wall was covered by a chart of the solar system, showing the planets in a particular arrangement. That vision was so vivid that Kasukabe was able to reproduce it on paper. He took it to a friend of his who is sort of an astronomy otaku. His friend was able to find a computer program to tell him exactly when the planets will be in those relative positions. It turns out it will be a few months from now."

"So that's how he made his prediction about this gas cloud," Artemis surmised.

Rei nodded. "That, and a vision of his Moon Goddess pointing at the chart and telling him where the gas cloud would be approaching from. The constellation Aquarius."

"So you did a fire reading for him?" Minako asked.

"Yes. I can just tell you the same thing I told him. He's not under a spell and he's not possessed, the memories are genuine. They must be from a previous life. I got no indications other than that, which suggests this life was lived a very long time ago and in a place very far away. I think we can guess where."

"But why would he suddenly remember all this?" Ami asked. "Why would it be triggered by falling under the control of a youma?"

"It probably had more to do with Sailor Moon's attack," Luna suggested. "I never knew she had that particular power, and since then I've warned her not to use it on possessed humans. We have no idea what the effects of that scream of hers might be."

"Gee, do you think that's what it was?" Usagi asked. Everyone could see that she was upset now.

"That's our best guess," Luna said, looking up at her. "Usagi, is something wrong?"

"Sure something's wrong!" Usagi shot back. "What I did to him screwed up his life! You heard what he told Rei. He lost most of his memories and didn't know what to do. His wife left him, he lost his job, and now he thinks it's all some kind of message from God."

"Usagi, you know you can't blame yourself for this," Makoto said soothingly. "It was your first fight as Sailor Moon, for heaven's sake, you were just acting on instinct."

Usagi looked down at her clasped hands, still miserable. "I know. But I still feel awful. That poor man, he doesn't even understand what happened to him." Her face was suddenly lit up as if by some bright idea. She looked up again. "I know, why don't we just go tell him the truth?"

"How do you mean?" Rei asked. "What exactly do you want to tell him?"

"You know, about Queen Serenity, who she was, what she did. Everything."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Rei said, shaking her head. "He already suspects I'm not telling him everything I know. If I were to do that, it wouldn't take him long to make a connection between me and the Sailor Senshi."

"Not necessarily," Minako said, taking the straw out of her mouth and dropping it in the remains of her milkshake. "You wouldn't have to mention anything about Sailor Senshi. On the other hand, one of us could approach him in our Sailor Senshi form... maybe one of us he's never met, just to be on the safe side. One way or the other, I agree with Usagi, I think we should tell him something."

"But even our own memories are sketchy," Artemis reminded her. "He already knows most of what we do about the Silver Millennium, in fact in some ways it sounds like his memories are more complete than ours. I certainly can't remember that chart room he describes, much less draw a picture of it. What can we tell him that he doesn't already know?"

"I think it would help him just to know there are others like him," Makoto said. "I know if I suddenly had that vision of the end of the Silver Millennium and I didn't have you guys to share it with, didn't have anybody to explain it, I'd feel pretty lost."

"I guess we do owe him that much," Luna said. "But Rei is right, we have to be very careful about what we tell him and how we do it."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ami asked. She looked around to see that she had everyone's attention. "If his memories are that accurate, then there might be something to this approaching gas cloud. It may be a threat, like he says."

Rei had been wondering when Ami would bring this up. She was surprised it had taken this long. "I guess I had been assuming he was wrong," Rei said carefully. "After all, there are other parts of his memories he's misinterpreted, calling Serenity a goddess for instance."

"And that astronomer didn't sound too confident," Makoto said. "Rei says he sounded sincere and I guess I can't disagree, but he could just be a quack. I wish you'd been there Ami, you'd probably be able to tell whether he even knows what he's talking about."

"Has he reported his observations to his superiors at the observatory?"

Ami asked.

"Yes, I remember Kasukabe-sensei saying he had," Rei replied. "But that was just a few days ago, I don't know if they've had time to check over his pictures or whatever it is they do."

"Maybe I'll go ask Professor Kakeru whether he's heard anything about this," Ami said half to herself.

"Professor Kakeru?" Usagi asked. "Ami, are you telling me you know him?" They all knew Professor Kakeru by name. He was the astronomer who had discovered the comet on which the creature he had come to call Princess Kaguya had arrived on earth. The evil witch had nearly killed him when she came to collect a piece of the comet he had retrieved. The Sailor Senshi had intervened, but only Luna had really become... acquainted with him.

"We've only spoken a few times, but yes we know each other," Ami explained. "I met him at a public lecture he gave, I managed to strike up a conversation with him afterwards. The way Luna had described him to us, he sounded like a very interesting person, I wanted to... Oh!" She suddenly remembered she was talking about the man who had been the object of Luna's unrequited love. "Luna, I'm sorry, I..."

"That's okay Ami-chan," Luna said gently. "That's ancient history, and in fact I'm glad one of us has kept in touch with him. I know you never mentioned it for my sake, but really I don't mind at all."

"That's right," Usagi said slyly, "Luna is all caught up in a torrid romance, so she's got no time to pine over lost loves."

"Whatever are you talking about," Luna said with an unconvincing effort to sound bored.

"I'm talking about mom telling me yesterday you didn't walk back into the house until Five - A - M," Usagi said, poking Luna to emphasize each of the last three syllables, looking very pleased with herself.

"What?" Minako exclaimed, suddenly sitting bolt upright. "Artemis, you didn't get in until six that morning!" She started to roughly tousle the fur on his head. "You devil, no wonder you looked like you had swallowed the proverbial goldfish!" This prompted a series of hoots and whistles from all around the table, as two cats fended off more abuse from their respective human keepers with vain attempts to scratch them.

"Meeting adjourned," Rei muttered under her breath.

# # # #

"Well, I'm certainly glad you've been here before," Ami said as they walked, their umbrellas open against the light rain. "I would probably have gotten lost by now."

"I thought your computer could access those global positioning things," Rei said.

"That doesn't help if all you've got is a street address," Ami replied.

Rei looked at her. "Ami, you still seem a bit nervous. Are you really okay about this?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She had been to see Professor Kakeru already. He had heard of the gas cloud Nomura had discovered. Apparently there was a lot more effort being directed towards collecting more data on it now. A lot of astronomers were already quite excited about it, but the initial observations from several different sites were unusual enough that nobody was willing to draw any conclusions about it yet. Nobody, that is, except Nomura himself. He had very firm conclusions about the size, speed and nature of the cloud. Nobody was saying he was necessarily wrong, but everyone including Kakeru seemed to agree that his conclusions were premature. No reputable journal would publish them as they were.

Ami also understood what Kakeru implied but did not say: if Nomura were to publish himself under these circumstances, it would ruin his credibility. Therefore, if Ami wanted to find out more about his theory, she would have to talk to Nomura herself.

"Don't worry, he struck me as a pleasant enough guy," Rei assured her. "Just be your charming self and tell him you're an astronomy otaku, which isn't far from the truth. I'm sure he'll open up for you."

"Rei, you make it sound like I'm here to interrogate him or seduce him." Ami tried to sound annoyed, but her amused smile made its way into her tone.

Rei chuckled. "Sorry. This is sort of cloak and dagger, I was just afraid you might be uncomfortable about it."

Ami was silent for a moment before she replied. "Actually, I'm a bit more nervous about just going to the church."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Like I told you, there's nothing weird going on, you won't have to dance or chant or anything. As church services go, it's pretty conventional."

"I wouldn't know what that means," Ami said. "About the only religious service I've ever attended was at your shrine."

Rei had never heard this, she found it surprising. "Didn't your mom ever take you to visit a temple on New Year's?"

"No, she never did. I'm afraid my mother is a very in-your-face atheist. She even arranged to have me excused from the excursions to temples that my classes went on, I'd end up touring museums or something instead."

Rei didn't know much about Ami's mother, except that she was divorced and she was a well respected doctor. Rei had met her once or twice, she was very beautiful and had struck Rei as being very kind and considerate. For whatever reason she must have thought this was best for Ami. Oh well, each to their own. "You know, that explains why you seemed so fascinated with the shrine when we first met. You acted as if you'd never seen a Shinto shrine before."

"Well of course I'd seen one, but I'd never been on the grounds before."

"I've seen you wear a crucifix on occasion, I had thought that maybe your family was Christian."

Ami didn't answer right away. Rei was thinking that she ought to change the subject, but Ami's reply came before she could speak. "Since I became Sailor Mercury, I've seen a lot of things that made me question my assumptions about the way the world works. Then on top of that we saw ourselves in a previous life, saw proof that we had been reincarnated. Then we... um..."

"I know," Rei said gently. **Then we died** was what Ami couldn't bring herself to say. Rei cursed herself for questioning Ami like this, should have known where it would lead. She wanted to go put her arm around her friend, but the umbrellas would probably get in the way.

Ami turned to her and gave her a little smile, trying to show that it was okay. "I've had to open my mind to all sorts of new possibilities over the past year. I've just decided that I should start giving some thought to the care and feeding of my soul."

"I think your soul is in fine shape, Ami-chan," Rei said, meaning it.

Ami beamed. "I'll take that as an expert opinion." They continued in comfortable silence for a while. Suddenly Rei tried to stifle a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Ami asked cheerfully.

"I was just wondering what your mother would think if she knew that you're an avatar of Mercury."

And with that, they arrived at the Church of the Silver Millennium. When they got upstairs they found Kasukabe standing at the inner doors, just as he had been the last time. He looked at Rei and smiled as they approached. "Welcome, Rei-san. I see you've brought a friend."

"Yes. Kasukabe-sensei, this is Mizuno Ami."

"Welcome, Mizuno-san," Kasukabe said, bowing. He looked at Rei again. "I'd like to thank you again for the reading you did for me, it was very instructive."

"You're welcome, I'm glad I could help."

"Please go right in." The two girls entered. Rei had warned Ami about what the interior looked like, but even so Ami was barely able to hide her astonishment. The place was a lot more full than the first time Rei had been here, the hubbub a couple of notches louder. Rei wondered if Professor Nomura's revelations were having an impact.

"Looks like we'll have to sit apart," Ami commented, looking out over the room, seeing only single vacant seats. She could see Riko, but there were no empty seats beside her.

"Yeah. Well, Makoto heard from Riko that Nomura is definitely speaking today, so you won't need me to point him out."

"Okay. See you in a while."

They both went to sit down. A few minutes later, the service started.

Kasukabe started off much as he had last time. But no doubt because there were so many new people here today, he gave a more complete introduction, explaining the vision he had and what he believed it meant. But that didn't take too long, and soon he was introducing Professor Nomura. The astronomer was a bit less nervous and lot better prepared this time. He repeated more or less what Rei had heard the last time, but was a lot less technical and long-winded about it. About the only new news was that he had seen results from a radio telescope that seemed to confirm what he had suspected: the cloud is slowing down at the rate he had predicted. It would come to a dead halt between the sun and the earth, staying there for he knew not how long. He emphasized how the prophecy of the Moon Goddess could not be a coincidence.

"She must have sent this vision for a reason," he concluded. "I see it as a vision of hope, telling us to have faith that she will protect us from what is to come."

Kasukabe thanked the professor and took the pulpit himself. "My friends, today I would like to share a new vision with you, a revelation which came to me quite recently. I have spoken at length about the clear vision that the Moon Goddess sent me over a year ago. But I have spoken little of the other memories that accompanied that vision. These other memories I speak of were vague and nebulous, and they remain so. However, I believe I understand their meaning more fully now. The vision I had was simply this: these memories are from a previous life in which I had the honour of serving the Moon Goddess. In her infinite wisdom and compassion, she allowed me to be reborn in this time and place so that I can once again serve her.

"I have yet to consider the full implications of this revelation. I have faith that the Moon Goddess will reveal that in time. For now, I simply want to acknowledge the contribution of a remarkable young lady with great vision and spiritual strength. It was her reading of the sacred flame in her shrine which allowed me to more fully understand my memories from the past. Hino Rei, would you stand please?"

Rei had been wondering if there was some way she could sneak out. This was the last thing she wanted. But she was caught. Hesitantly, she rose to half-crouch, did a perfunctory bow, managing to smile, and sat down again. She was getting stares from a lot of people now. No, she didn't like this one bit.

The service continued. When Kasukabe was done, the hubbub of the crowd that arose seemed a lot louder and more animated than the last time. As Rei had feared, she found herself the centre of attention. At least of Kasukabe's most devoted followers. Everyone wanted to introduce themselves. Rei was getting a stream of promises to come visit her shrine. And a stream of questions. "Yes, I do fire readings. No, I don't tell the future, I just help find things for people. Yes, certainly I believe in reincarnation. Well, I don't know much about the Moon Goddess yet, so I couldn't say much about that. No, I don't know much about astronomy at all, and I nearly flunked math. Well, have you looked for them in your other pocket... yes, I do that all the time too. What? Um, well, I already sort of have a boyfriend so..."

Rei managed to spare a glance through the crowd gathered around her, over to where she thought she had seen Ami. Sure enough, Nomura was there with her, excitedly talking with his hands as much as with his mouth. Ami had the enraptured otaku look down pat, Rei could almost hear the obligatory stream of "uh-huh... uh-huh... " as she hung on his every word. They looked like they could be there for a while.

**Ami, whatever you get out of him had better be worth this,** Rei thought, holding on to her best smile for dear life.

# # # #

Rei walked into the restaurant and had a look around. **Is he nuts? No way can he afford this!** She smiled sweetly to the hostess. "I'm Hino Rei, the reservation is under Kasukabe."

The hostess checked her book then looked back at her with a smile. "Right this way, Hino-san," she said, leading Rei into the restaurant. Rei was wearing one of the white dresses that her father always sent her on her birthday. This one was from last year, so it still fit. They always made her look older than she was, which was probably why the hostess didn't even raise an eyebrow. They sure couldn't be getting a lot of high school students in this place.

Kasukabe stood and smiled as she approached. "Good Evening, Rei-san, thank you for coming."

"Thank you for inviting me," Rei said as he held the chair for her.

"Kasukabe-sensei, this really is too much. I wish you hadn't done this."

"Not at all, not at all," Kasukabe insisted as he went back to his own seat. "It's the least I could do to thank you for your help." He grinned. "And to apologize for any embarrassment I caused you."

"Well, I do wish you had given me some warning," Rei said. She still hadn't indicated just how annoyed she was by what he had done.

"Oh, I know how modest you are. You probably wouldn't have come if you'd known I was going to show off the fire oracle who explained the meaning of it all to me."

"Anyway, you grossly overstated my role. After all, you had already suspected your memories were from a previous life, I just confirmed that."

"It was of great value to me, finding somebody who shares my vision."

"You are the one who has the vision, Kasukabe-sensei."

"I don't think I'm the only one," Kasukabe said, giving her that intent look again.

Further conversation was interrupted by the waiter arriving to tell them what was on the menu tonight. They were both somewhat out of their element, so they just went along with his suggestions. When he left, Rei eyed Kasukabe suspiciously. "You've never been here before either, have you?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Nope. Just read about the place. I have very little idea what we just ordered, it will be just as much a surprise to me as you."

"I'm sure it will be wonderful," Rei said. It better be, the waiter hadn't even said how much it would cost. I guess if you have to ask you can't afford it, she thought.

He was eyeing her again. "You know, you never did tell me about the vision you saw when you first arrived at our church."

Rei sighed. She'd been expecting this. But this time she was prepared. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, sensei. I'm sorry, but I had to be sure that your memories were genuine first."

"And you believe they are?"

"Yes, I do."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because they are very much the same as my own."

Kasukabe regarded her for a moment, then smiled. "I was right. You did recognize the palace of the Moon Goddess."

"Yes, I did. But in my own memory, I know it as the palace of Queen Serenity."

"Serenity..." Kasukabe breathed the name like a prayer. He was lost in thought for a moment. "I have thought of that name before, but I never made the connection. Serenity. How utterly perfect for her. Do you remember anything else?"

"Not much. I know that she ruled a kingdom called the Silver Millennium that existed on the moon a very long time ago. And that I served her there in a previous life, as you did. I did see a vision of the kingdom's destruction. I saw Queen Serenity take the souls of all her slain subjects, and carry them to the Earth where they could be reborn." Rei had agreed with the others that she would tell him this much, but she had been adamant about saying nothing about Queen Serenity's death. She didn't think he was ready to hear that yet.

"Remarkable," Kasukabe breathed, hanging on her every word. "Then there may be others like us. Your friend Makoto, for instance. She saw the same vision, didn't she?"

"Sensei, Makoto is my friend, but she also comes to me for spiritual guidance. It would be inappropriate for me to talk about anything she has confided in me."

"Yes, of course," Kasukabe said apologetically.

"I can tell you that there are others with memories of the Silver Millennium. We are not alone."

"Yes, I had always thought that there must be more who knew of the Silver Millennium," Kasukabe said eagerly. "I had hoped that others would come forward once I started spreading the word of the Moon Goddess. Now that has finally happened! Rei-san, I believe our time is short, which is why I was so adamant about meeting tonight. I would like to enlist your help. I now believe that the true purpose of my vision is to show me that we must work to bring the servants of the Moon Goddess together once again."

Rei frowned. "Bring them together? For what purpose?"

"Why, to prepare for her return, of course. What other meaning could the vision have?"

"Kasukabe-sensei, I'm not sure the visions have any meaning at all, other than to tell us where we were in a previous life. I've always just accepted them as nothing but that."

"But we have proof now. The Great Cloud is coming just as she told me it would."

Rei was wondering if there was some way she could get him off this doom prophecy track. It obviously wasn't going to be easy. "I don't know much about astronomy..."

"Ah, but your friend Ami certainly does," Kasukabe interrupted. "She is taking quite an interest in Nomura's Cloud." That had now become the object's official name. "Is that why you brought your bright friend along with you, to see whether Nomura's ideas are sound?"

Rei glared at him. She felt like she had been manoeuvred into a corner. "Sensei, I don't think there is anything more I can do to help you," she said, trying to regain her calm.

"But I think there is much you can do," Kasukabe said. "You are a well respected spiritualist at a prestigious shrine. If you add your voice to that of the other servants of the Moon Goddess, I think it would help spread the word to others like us, help them understand what their memories really mean."

Rei couldn't believe this. She took a deep breath. "As I said, I'm not yet sure that the visions mean anything at all."

"What will it take to make you believe, then?" Kasukabe asked, becoming more insistent. "If your friend comes to tell you that Nomura's words are true, will you believe then?"

Rei was just about running out of patience. "Yes, I will believe. I will believe that some... gas cloud, or whatever it is, will pass by us, and that Queen Serenity correctly predicted it. If it poses a threat, I guess we'll have to deal with that. But I have seen nothing to make me believe that Queen Serenity will be returning to save you or me or anybody else."

Kasukabe glared at her. "Then you believe the Goddess has sent me her warning for no purpose?"

"No, I don't believe that. Every vision has a purpose."

"Then how can you believe that she will forsake us?"

**Because she's dead!** Rei wanted to shout. She continued in the utterly calm voice with the little whiff of danger in it that always seemed to get people's attention. "Kasukabe-sensei, I want to make something clear. Until I see proof, either in a clear vision of my own or from something that my friend tells me is irrefutable, I will not help spread your prophecy of doom. I respect your belief, but I do not share it."

They stared at each other in silence. Rei could see that Kasukabe was having just as much difficulty controlling his own anger. "I see," he said at length. "Very well. I will not bother you again until I have news that will meet your satisfaction." His voice was thick with bitterness.

They were still sitting in silence when the waiter brought their first course. Makoto had introduced Rei to some pretty exotic stuff over the past few months, but Rei had no idea what this might be or how to attack it. Yes, this was going to be a simply **delightful** dinner.

# # # #

Ami walked up to the big double doors at the front of the house, rang the bell and waited. Half a minute later, the door opened. Hotaru stood there, her pretty face already glowing with a welcoming smile. Evidently she had already identified Ami through the door's peephole, or more likely through the closed circuit camera system Ami knew they had here.

"Hi Ami-chan!" she said brightly. "Setsuna said you'd be coming over tonight. Come on in!"

"Thank you, Hotaru-chan," Ami said, walking in. Hotaru gave her a little hug. She came up to Ami's chest now. "I could swear you've grown some more since I last saw you," Ami said after giving her a good squeeze.

Hotaru wrinkled her nose. "Silly! That was just a couple of weeks ago," she said. They had all gathered to give Chibi-usa a big send off before her return to the thirtieth century. It had been an emotional, bitter-sweet day for all of them.

"Well, you've been known to grow plenty in less time than that," Ami teased. She shuffled out of her shoes and Hotaru laid out some slippers for her.

"Setsuna says I won't be doing that any more," Hotaru said. She took Ami's arm and led her down the hall. "I'll just be growing normally from now on."

Ami knew this already, of course. "I'll bet you're relieved to know that." Hotaru now looked pretty much as she did when they had all first met her, before her rebirth. But she was no longer pale as death, Ami noted, and was much more energetic. And she looked a lot better now that she had stopped wearing tight fitting black all the time.

They walked into the enormous living room just in time to see Setsuna set a tray with tea and dainties onto the coffee table. She greeted Ami with a warm smile. "Hello Ami-chan. It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Setsuna-san," Ami said. It was odd seeing Setsuna dressed casually. It seemed that every time Ami saw her she was either dressed to kill or in her Sailor Pluto outfit. But she still looked beautiful. Her long, dark hair fanned out behind her like a cape as she walked over to Ami. She could still swear she saw hints of green when the light hit it right. I wonder if my hair would look as nice if I let it grow long, Ami thought.

Setsuna took Ami's hand and squeezed it gently. "I was really pleased to get your call. You and the others should come over and visit more often, you know you're always welcome."

"It's too bad Haruka and Michiru aren't here," Hotaru said. Ami noted that it wasn't "Haruka-papa" and "Michiru-mama" anymore, Hotaru had outgrown that rather quickly.

"Setsuna told me about Michiru's concert tonight," Ami said as they went to sit down. "It sounds like she's got a very busy schedule."

"Yes, Haruka seems to spend half her time chauffeuring Michiru from one concert hall to another," Setsuna commented. "It's a good thing she's so fond of driving that car of theirs."

"I wish I could go with them more often," Hotaru said as she poured out the tea. "I love to hear Michiru play."

"Well, you're busy with school these days, aren't you?" Ami said. Setsuna had told her that they had enrolled Hotaru in a nearby private school recently. Now that she was growing normally again, she didn't need to be cloistered here anymore. It was possible for her to get to know other people now. And it was easy to see how pleased Hotaru was about that. She talked excitedly about the new friends she was making. And she was doing exceptionally well in her studies. In fact, she had to be careful not to do too well and raise suspicions. Latent memories from before her rebirth were allowing her to learn at a phenomenal rate.

After a gentle reminder from Setsuna, Hotaru excused herself so that she could go continue with her homework. "She seems a lot happier now," Ami commented after she had left.

Setsuna nodded. "It's been hard for her, being cooped up in here. But now she can finally take her life back again, or at least some of it. It's very important for us, you know, to have a life connected to the world around us, the people we're sworn to protect."

"Yes."

Setsuna leaned back, draping her arms across the top of the couch. "You've been distracted since you got here, Ami. I get the impression there's something else you'd like to talk about."

Ami nodded. As the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto had lived longer than all the other Sailor Senshi put together. Not much got past her. "I'm sorry Setsuna, but this isn't just a social call."

"I knew that even before you got here." Setsuna smiled at Ami's reaction. "No, I didn't look into the future. It's obvious you have something on your mind."

Without further preamble, Ami described their encounter with the Church of the Silver Millennium. She was very thorough, so it took a while. Setsuna listened without comment, just refilling their teacups now and then. Ami even told Setsuna about Rei's most recent and most unpleasant encounter with Kasukabe, which Ami had just heard about yesterday.

"It's this gas cloud that has you worried," Setsuna said when Ami was done. Her tone indicated some suspicion of Ami's intentions.

Ami had expected that reaction. "Setsuna-san, I want to make one thing clear. I'm not here to ask you to look into the future. You've warned us about the dangers of doing that and I accept that. What I am asking for is your memory of the past. Kasukabe claims that Queen Serenity predicted the coming of this gas cloud. Do you remember anything at all about that?"

Setsuna closed her eyes. She was utterly still, her expression blank. Ami just waited. After a minute or so, she opened her eyes again. Then she suddenly smiled. "He's got it wrong. She didn't predict the coming of this cloud. He did."

"You **do** remember something!" Ami said, making no attempt to hide her astonishment. She had hoped, but she had been thinking of this as a long shot at best.

"I knew him in his previous life in the Silver Millennium. I don't recall his name, but then again I recall so few names from that time. We were probably good friends. I do remember that room of his, with all the maps and that great chart with the planets circling around the sun. It wasn't just a chart, you know, it somehow had a link to all the planets. He could manipulate it and see all sorts of extraordinary things with it." Setsuna had a slightly wistful look. "He was very, very proud of it. He used it to predict the coming of this cloud, among other things."

"Did he think it was a threat?" Ami asked.

Setsuna shook her head. "I just remember him being utterly fascinated with it. It was so far away back then, it was extraordinary that he even knew of its existence. I doubt he could have really known much about it. The rest of us just found it all very curious. I'm sorry Ami, I wish there were more I could tell you."

"You've told me a lot more than I dared hope for," Ami said. "At least we know this man's vision wasn't really a warning from Queen Serenity."

"But you still think this cloud might be a threat," Setsuna said in a leading fashion.

"I'm still working on that. All sorts of observatories are looking at the cloud now, and Professor Nomura has shown me where I can download all the latest data from. Everyone is saying how odd the data is, even Nomura is starting to question his conclusions. I want to see if I can get my computer to make more sense out of it. In fact, a new set of observations was supposed to be posted tonight. I know I'm being rude, but I really should go home and get a start on processing it."

"Of course, I understand," Setsuna said, standing up. "Please let me drive you home, I know what a long train ride it is."

Ami made the obligatory objections, but was happy to accept the favour. Sure enough, when she got home she found the new observations ready to download. She was up most the night trying to make sense of it.

# # # #

Rei waited anxiously as Ami examined the notebook she had just handed her. Ami had her best poker face on, Rei could read nothing in her expression.

Finally, Ami passed the notebook back and smiled. "Every answer is correct, very well done."

Rei breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was afraid I might be doing it all wrong. Calculus really makes my brain hurt."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine." Rei had been worried about an upcoming test, so Ami had offered to come over and check the practice exercises she was doing.

"Thanks, Ami. Hey, I got some more Highlander episodes from my pen-pal, did you want to watch one?" Rei was feeling good about not having needed much of Ami's help after all, she felt like relaxing.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with a problem I'm having."

"Sure. What sort of problem?"

"I've been trying to get my computer to make sense of the data on that gas cloud, but I keep coming up blank. There are too many unknown variables. The computer just can't build a model of the cloud with what I've got."

"How do you think I can help?"

"Do you think you could do a fire reading?"

Rei thought for a moment about what Ami was asking. "What exactly would I be looking for?"

"It would help if I could get a picture of the cloud, get at least a rough sense of its shape, what it looks like."

Rei shook her head. "I don't know, Ami. It's just not on a human scale at all, being so big and far away. There's nothing for me to latch on to."

"Even a rough idea would be okay. Just one word describing it might be enough for me to narrow down on a model that fits the data."

Rei didn't think she'd be able to do anything, but she could see that Ami really wanted to try this. "Okay. Just give me a second and I'll go change," she said, standing up.

"Do you have a spare outfit for me?"

Rei looked down at her. "You want to change too?"

Ami smiled shyly. "I don't know anything about doing fire reading. But I'd like to back you up as best I can. With a symbolic act, if nothing else. Symbolism is a big part of what you do, after all."

Rei nodded. "Yes, it is," she said, her surprise showing in her tone. It was such a simple insight, but she hadn't expected to hear it from Ami. Symbolism was usually lost on her. But it was a pleasant surprise, and she smiled. "Okay, maybe with your help I really can find what you're looking for."

They went to change into the red and white shrine maiden robes. Then Rei got Ami to help her prepare the fire. Rei watched Ami as they worked. Ami had helped her with temple chores before, but had always treated them as just that: chores, or at best experiences to share with her friends. But Rei could only describe the manner in which Ami went about preparing the fire pit as reverent. Care and feeding of the soul, indeed.

Soon, Rei took her place before the fire, with Ami seated behind and to one side of her. With practiced ease, Rei began the chant that would help her project her will into the fire, make it part of her. Soon the fire began to move to her will. When the time was right, Rei began to cast her thoughts out to the heavens, reaching deep into the vastness of space, tried to imagine a stretch of emptiness a million million times bigger than she was. She tried to imagine a cloud, cold and dark, that could swallow her world a million times over, bearing down on them at a hellish speed...

The flame flickered, and suddenly she was looking at the cloud. It was beautiful, utterly unlike the shapeless blob she had been expecting. Immensely intricate patterns of gas tendrils wrapped around it, making its surface look at once orderly and chaotic. She tried to focus on any one part of it, but each part just seemed like a smaller version of the whole, clouds within clouds. Rei soon gave up on trying to make sense of the dizzying patterns on its surface, tried to plumb its depths, get a feel for what was in there.

She cried out at the shock she felt. The vision disappeared, and the flame resumed its normal form, happily snapping and crackling among the split logs. Rei slumped over to the side, too stunned to even try and break her fall.

Ami was at her side in an instant, frantically calling her name. She carefully gathered up Rei's limp form, gently cradling her head, looking into her vacant eyes for some sign of life.

Ami was near panic by the time Rei stirred and met her gaze. Ami smiled, but there was still desperate fear in her eyes. "Rei, please say something," she pleaded.

"I'm okay, Ami," Rei said wearily, speaking slowly. "It just took me by surprise. It was so strong."

Ami quickly calmed down. "All I saw was the cloud," she said, letting Rei's head rest in her lap. "What else did you see?"

"It wasn't what I saw, it was what I felt. Life. Incredible life energy. Ami, there's something alive in there."

Ami nodded, suddenly looking introspective. "So I was right," she breathed.

Rei was taken aback by her comment. Almost fully recovered now, she sat up, turned to face Ami. "What do you mean?"

Ami looked at her with a haunted expression. "Rei, I wasn't completely honest with you. I had already figured out what the cloud was shaped like. All those incredible patterns took me by surprise... but that wasn't what I was looking for. I just wanted you to focus on that, so that I wouldn't be leading you on. I had to see if you would find it on your own."

"You mean you knew there was life there?" Rei asked indignantly.

Ami hardly reacted to the anger in Rei's voice, still haunted by some unspoken dread. "I'm sorry Rei, but I had to find out for sure. It was too much of a coincidence, I thought maybe I was just assuming my conclusions somewhere along the way."

"What coincidence? What conclusion?" Rei resisted the urge to grab Ami and shake an answer out of her.

"Nomura is right, something is making the cloud slow down just the right amount. It's not going to just pass through the solar system, it's going to stop right here. It's going to swallow up the sun and blot it out."

"My God..." Rei whispered. She shuddered, suddenly feeling nauseous. Strangely, she wasn't really thinking about the end of the world. She was thinking of Ami sitting in her room, calmly helping her with her calculus questions, all the time knowing that the end of everything was coming.

# # # #

They drove in convoy, Haruka driving Usagi, Minako and the two cats in her convertible, Setsuna following in her big black sedan with Rei up front and Ami in the back. Michiru brought up the rear with Hotaru and Makoto in her minivan. Conversation was pretty sparse in Setsuna's car. Rei suspected it was no different for the others. She could see Usagi and Minako in the car ahead, both sitting quietly in the back seat, their hair whipping back like streamers.

They had just left Rei's temple, where she had done a second reading. It had given them all a clear picture of the cloud. That would be necessary for what they planned to do next.

"I was surprised that Usagi decided not to call Mamoru," Setsuna suddenly commented.

"It makes sense," Rei said. "He won't be able to help us, where we're going. She doesn't want to worry him for no reason."

"I know it makes sense, but I was still surprised. She used to be so utterly dependent on him. It wasn't long ago that she couldn't even think of facing any crisis without Mamoru at her side."

"It must have been a hard choice for her," Ami said. "She misses him terribly. But she must know how he would worry. He would probably fly back here from America if he knew what was going on. She's trying to prevent that, even though she must want it desperately."

He certainly would have something to worry about, Rei mused. When she and Ami had explained to everyone else what they had found, Usagi had decided upon this course of action without hesitation. She had made it sound so simple, like a walk in the park. We teleport over there and find out what is really controlling this cloud, what is making it zero in on our sun. Then we just deal with whatever we find, change its course or something. Piece of cake, really.

Rei still couldn't figure out whether to be proud of her friend or scream at her for her naive, child-like bravado. Naturally more than one of the Sailor Senshi had expressed concerns about transporting over such a colossal distance. "It has been done before," had been Setsuna's only comment. So they were all soon in agreement.

The iron gate at the front of the walled grounds slid open at a touch of Haruka's remote control. Similarly the doors to the three-car garage slid up at their approach. When they had all piled out, Michiru invited everyone inside for some refreshments before they disembarked.

The big living room accommodated the nine of them comfortably. Rei had only been here a couple of times, would have preferred to start out from a more familiar setting. But her grandfather was entertaining guests tonight, they would not have gotten enough privacy on the temple grounds. This was the next best place.

Soon they were ready to proceed. They filed out through the greenhouse into the big garden out back. The grounds extended far out to the sides and the back, and there were big trees all around, roughly marking the extend of the wall that stretched around them. Rei didn't even want to think what it cost them to maintain this place. Certainly much more than it cost to maintain her grandfather's temple.

They formed a rough circle out on the lawn. The girls were all getting their transformation pens out. Never one to wait on others, Haruka raised hers over her head and cried out "Uranus Power Make Up!"

Rei immediately did likewise. "Mars Crystal Power Make Up!" Instantly, her body was immersed in dazzling red flames. For just a heartbeat it always felt as if this time the flame would turn on her, consume her as it had so often consumed their enemies. But the flame was hers. It danced up and down its mistress' body, nourishing her, transforming her into the warrior of fire. It coursed through her veins like liquid gold, barely contained, awaiting the merest touch of her will to be unleashed. Sailor Mars **was** the fire.

The inferno subsided as quickly as it had appeared, the rush of power settling to a slow boil. It took another heartbeat or two for Rei to consciously relax the tension that set her limbs quivering. So often she had done this in the heat of battle, just selecting a target and firing was an instinctive reaction it took some effort to suppress. She looked around her, to see that everyone was now in their Sailor Senshi forms. The aftermath of their metamorphosis showed in their body language. Jupiter and Uranus in particular seemed to respond to it much as Mars did, they were consciously standing down from their released combat instincts. Only Pluto seemed unaffected, she calmly held her long Garnet Rod as if she had just been standing there waiting for them. Rei envied her effortless self-control. She wondered if centuries of being a Sailor Senshi would give her that sort of composure.

By contrast, Usagi looked to be a bundle of nerves. Now that they were ready, it was finally sinking in, the enormity of what they were going to do. She looked from one face to another, perhaps hoping that somebody would try to talk her out of this. But Rei just smiled encouragingly at her. In her Eternal Sailor Moon form, all in white with the great feathery wings at her back, she looked so... oh, go ahead and say it, angelic. When she was in this form, Rei found it so hard to fault her, even for the indecisiveness that always made Rei bristle.

Sailor Moon broke the silence. "Before we go, I need everybody to promise me something. I need you all to promise that you won't attack anything we find there unless you know it's to save our lives." She turned and looked expectantly at Venus, who was immediately to her left.

Venus was as much taken aback by this sudden entreaty as everyone else was. After a moment, she nodded. "I promise," she said solemnly.

Sailor Moon shifted her gaze to Uranus, who was next in line. Uranus returned the gaze with an expression that was not quite cool enough to be disrespectful. It was clear that she knew what Rei was only now realizing: Sailor Moon was setting the ground rules for the Outer Senshi. Once and for all, my way or no way.

After only a moment's delay, Uranus also nodded. "I promise." The tension in the group went down a notch or two. Sailor Moon looked at each of them, and each in turn gave the same promise. Rei did likewise, but she felt that the meaning of the promise was quite different than what Sailor Moon intended. Usagi, bless her heart, was worried that they might hurt an innocent. But Rei could not imagine them being able to harm these beings, who could manipulate something that would easily swallow their sun whole, move it to their will. In her heart, Rei was promising not to make an enemy where none existed.

For Rei had touched what was in the cloud, felt their power. If they were already enemies, Rei knew what sort of chance the Sailor Senshi would have against them.

"Then let's go," Sailor Moon said, extending her hands to Venus and Mercury. Everybody joined hands, shuffling about a bit to make a cleaner circle.

"I'd love to know where you hide that rod, Pluto," Jupiter quipped, noticing the sudden absence of her Garnet Rod. They all laughed a bit at the running joke, though some of it sounded a bit forced. Of course they knew where it was... sort of. Pluto had just slipped it into the same invisible space that Sailor Saturn kept her Silence Glaive, Sailor Mercury kept her computer, and Sailor Moon kept her sceptre, the space behind each of them that they simply called a pocket. Rei smiled a bit, as she remembered a much more rude and crude name that Makoto had thought up for it, one night when they had rented Papillon from the local video shop. Sailor Uranus' English was probably good enough to understand the joke, though she might not appreciate it...

Sailor Moon closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. Rei did likewise. She knew they were depending mostly on her to image their destination. They had all seen it, had also seen Ami's computer reconstructions of it. But none of them could know it with the same intimacy as Rei, whose fire readings had all but put her out there with it in the vastness of space. She focused on the image of the cloud in her mind's eye. The image became sharper, until it was as if she were right there looking at it. She tried not to think too much about the scale of the thing: it was too mind-boggling, it would simply throw her off. Just try to picture a spot dead centre. Right there.

The image leapt out at her. She knew to expect the vertigo, the sudden feeling of dislocation, but this time the intensity of it shocked her. They had done it. They were on their way to meet Nomura's Cloud.

# # # #

Sailor Mars panted as the adrenaline rush subsided. **Falling.** Every nerve in her body was screaming at her, telling her she was falling. Ami had warned them to expect this. She had called it... microgravity, something like that. The momentary weightless feeling of the teleport was one thing, this was quite another. She could see why Ami had suggested they only have a light snack before leaving. Mars was having trouble keeping even that down. She did her best to suppress the reaction, to tell her body that there was no place to fall. The way that Jupiter and Saturn were squeezing her hands, they were fighting the same reaction.

She opened her eyes. The darkness was almost complete. She could barely see her companions floating in a circle in front of her. There was a dim, shimmering white glow all around them. It was familiar, Mars felt its presence as much as she saw it, could picture the transparent globe that surrounded them, protected them. The Sailor Senshi generated it spontaneously whenever they teleported to a place unsuited to their terrestrial bodies.

Mars' eyes adjusted to the gloom quickly, but even then there wasn't much to see. It was like being surrounded by dark grey storm clouds. Only the whorls and ripples in the gas seemed to be less chaotic, more orderly than any cloud Mars had seen, either in the sky or in Ami's illustrated astronomy books. There was no visible movement, but Mars could swear that the gas was **flowing** around her, moved by some force she could not fathom. Some of the gas was faintly glowing, which was what allowed them to see anything at all.

"Is everybody okay?" Sailor Moon asked, breaking the silence. Nods and affirmative answers all around. Mars could see her companions' faces more clearly now. Everybody was tense. There were various degrees of fear in their faces, even Pluto showing it a little. Rei felt the same fear in the pit of her stomach. She felt like a dust mote, lost in the vastness of this cloud, an unimaginable distance from home.

"I'll see what I can detect," Mercury said. She closed her eyes, knitted her brow, and her translucent blue visor came over her eyes. Normally she would activate it with a gesture. But they had agreed they should hold the circle if at all possible, since to break it risked losing the protective globe. She had to bring her visor forth by sheer force of will. She opened her eyes, and gasped. Slowly, she looked all around, her face still frozen in an open-mouthed expression of awe and wonder. "I wonder how I can describe it," she breathed. After a while she did start to speak, almost absently, as if reluctant to interrupt her contemplation of the wonders around her with clumsy words. "It's like rivers within rivers, going to infinity in all directions. There are spots where the rivers come together, flowing around spinning globes like... like a hurricane, like the great spot of Jupiter."

"Could there be... planets or something, inside those?" Venus asked hesitantly.

"No," Mercury said, still looking out at the cloud. "There's nothing solid. Some of the gas is incredibly dense and hot, considering where we are. But even that would be a horribly cold vacuum for us."

"But we know there's something alive in here," Jupiter said. "It has to be somewhere."

"I don't see any sign of it," Mercury said. "The scale of this is..." she just shook her head. "The tiniest feature I can see is miles across. But I'm only seeing a tiny part of the cloud from here. It could be somewhere else."

The knot in Rei's stomach tightened. It was getting to her again, realizing that the closest things she was seeing was unimaginably far away. And yet everything they could see was just one little wisp in this vast cloud.

"Maybe we'll have to teleport to different parts of the cloud, look for whatever is controlling all this," Uranus suggested.

"We would exhaust ourselves long before we had covered even a tiny fraction of this place," Pluto said.

"Mercury," Sailor Neptune said, "Can you see anything suggesting these rivers of gas are heading to or from a particular direction?"

"No. Rei got the impression the cloud looks more or less the same throughout. What I'm seeing seems to confirm that. Any direction I look is pretty much the same, just smaller patterns within bigger ones."

They seemed to be running out of options very quickly. "Maybe I can find them," Rei offered. "I've already touched the life that's here, maybe I can pinpoint it now that we're closer." **closer,** she repeated to herself. That sure is a relative term.

"What do we need to do?" Sailor Moon asked her.

"I'll just need everybody to be quiet for a moment," Mars said. She

closed her eyes, made her mind go blank, passive, receptive to what was around her. Soon she was in the state she needed to be. She felt the warm, familiar presence of her companions. She cast her mind out further, feeling only immense emptiness. It was distressing. When she went into such a trance back home, she could feel Mother Earth around her, bursting at the seams with life. She tried to cast her mind out further, seek out that same feeling. There was something. A warm, steady glow all around her. Very far yet very near. Very big yet hardly there at all. It was stirring, directing its will towards something, it...

It was watching her.

Mars gasped and her whole body spasmed as she came out of her trance. It took just a moment to recover.

"Mars, are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You looked like you saw something," Sailor Uranus said.

"There's something here. Something watching us. I could feel it."

"But where?" Saturn asked. She looked around nervously, as if expecting to see some storm god peek out from behind one of the dim grey thunderclouds.

"I don't know. It seemed to come from everywhere at once."

"Everywhere at once..." Mercury breathed. Her eyes focused on a set of lights that went flashing across her visor. Everyone watched her expectantly. "I couldn't see the forest for the trees.." she said softly.

"What do you mean?" Uranus asked impatiently.

"I couldn't see it for what it was... it was like looking at background radiation. The life energy is coming from everywhere. The cloud is alive."

Everyone just stared at her in silence. Some looked around them as if seeing their surroundings for the first time. Mars heard Sailor Saturn next to her stifle a little whimper. Mars met the young girl's eyes, and they had a moment of mutual understanding, knowing they both felt the same thing. **In the belly of the beast.**

"Mars, do you really think..." Venus' voice broke. She swallowed, and continued, the tremor in her soft voice barely under control. "Do you think it's... aware of us?"

"The feeling is unmistakable, I touched something that knew I'm here."

"But how could it even notice us?" Jupiter asked. "I mean, we're right inside it, and we're so **small**..."

"We're small, but between us we have more mass and life energy than everything within thousands of miles," Mercury answered. "We probably stand out like a beacon."

"So what's it doing, trying to figure us out?" Uranus asked.

"Maybe," Mercury said uncertainly.

"So how long do we have to wait before it does something?" Jupiter asked.

"It could be a very, very long time," Pluto said. "Something this big can't do anything in a hurry."

Rei felt despair begin to gnaw at her. What could they possibly accomplish here? How do you talk to a gas cloud?

Nobody said anything for a while. Rei was starting to feel cold. The air around them was as warm as it had been when it teleported along with them. The globe projected by their collective life energies was maintaining it just as it should. But it felt as if all her warmth were evaporating out into the cloud.

"Sailor Moon, are you okay?" Sailor Saturn suddenly asked.

Mars looked over to see Sailor Moon staring into space with a vacant expression, eyes half closed. She started as she became aware that everyone was staring. "Um... yeah, I just feel a bit tired."

"Your broach is glowing," Venus said. Mars looked closer. Sure enough, the golden heart-shaped broach at her breast was glowing faintly. That usually only happened when she was drawing upon the power of the Ginzuishou.

Sailor Moon looked down, as surprised as everyone. "I... I must have been drawing on its power... to keep us warm or something. I didn't even realize."

"The protective bubble shouldn't take that much power," Pluto said in alarm. "Something else must be draining the energy, forcing you to draw on the crystal."

"I think it's happening to all of us," Neptune said. "I wasn't sure, but I'm really beginning to feel it now."

"Me too," Mars concurred. The cold was getting worse.

"You're right," Mercury said. "It's slow, but we're definitely being drained. I can detect it now. It's coming from all over, and it's getting worse."

"We have to teleport back while we still have the strength," Venus said firmly.

"But..." Sailor Moon's voice trailed off. She wanted to protest, but couldn't think of anything else for them to do.

"Princess, we don't have any choice," Sailor Pluto said gently. "The longer we stay, the greater the danger."

She nodded reluctantly. "Okay. Is everybody ready?" Nods all around.

"Then let's begin."

Mars closed her eyes, tried to concentrate. She wasn't getting the comforting positive feedback from her companions that she had felt when they started the process to teleport over here. They were all tired and frightened, unable to focus. She silently mouthed a comforting mantra to ease her troubled mind, tried to be the anchor that everyone could gather around, as she had been on the way here. Sailor Moon was the only one who could provide the power for this, but Mars would have to provide the direction.

It took a while, but eventually Mars was able to form the image of where they needed to go. It clarified, showing her that the others were finally able to come to her support. The process then proceeded on its own accord. Again there was the dizzying feeling of dislocation.

Then suddenly she **was** falling. Her eyes flew open just in time for her feet to hit the earth. She went sprawling, heard cries of alarm as everyone else did the same. Sailor Saturn fell heavily on top of her.

The young girl sat up and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"That's okay," Mars said, also smiling. It was another moment of shared understanding. The fall was a very small price to pay for having solid ground under their feet again, to be back home. **Any landing you can walk away ****from...**

# # # #

Haruka sighed and put her coffee mug back on the table. "So what you're telling us is that we haven't learned anything new," she said wearily.

Ami, sitting on a cushion on the other side of the long table, shook her head solemnly. "No, I'm afraid we haven't. The cloud's reaction to us was exactly the same as the last two times. Teleporting just outside the cloud's perimeter made no difference."

They were all still weary from their third trip out to the cloud, this time starting from Rei's temple. The four Outer Senshi and Minako were seated along one side of the table, everyone else along the other. This demarcation simply had to do with preference of beverage, since the tea tray sat behind Rei and the coffee maker sat behind Michiru. The teleports, the slow draining of life energy and the anxiety were all taking their toll.

"Rei, did you sense anything more this time?" Usagi asked.

Rei shook her head. "No, nothing. Just the same. Something noticed we were there, then the energy drain began. No sense of malevolence, curiosity, anything. No specific thoughts or feelings of any kind."

"I'm beginning to think there's nothing there to find," Ami said. "I mean, no consciousness. It may be reacting to us just the same way it's reacting to the sun. It's simply drawn by any source of energy."

"I can't believe that," Rei said firmly. "Every time I reach out to it, touch it, I feel something more, signs of a soul more rich and deep than anything I've ever touched. I **know** there's something there."

"But how do we get through to it?" Makoto asked in frustration. "We've got to make it understand what it's going to do to us!"

"There may be no way to do that," Ami said. "It's just so different from us, there's no common ground."

"Or perhaps it's just not interested in talking," Michiru suggested. They were all silent for a while. They had gone through all this before, everyone could see that they were just running around in circles again.

"I think we have to start planning for the worst," Setsuna said softly. She looked at Ami. "Ami, If we can't do anything to divert the cloud, what can we expect to happen?"

As Ami began to speak, Rei considered going down the hall to wake the two cats, who had fallen asleep before the Sailor Senshi's return from their last trip out. She decided against it, so far most of what was being said was just review. Rei listened as her blue-haired friend calmly and carefully described exactly how the end of the world would come about. In a few months, the cloud would come between the Earth and the Sun, very quickly enveloping the sun completely. The cold gas cloud would slowly warm up as it absorbed energy. Even if they assumed it would absorb just enough energy to send it on its way again, that would take several months at least. By that time, the Earth would have been frozen over, right down to the equator. The only things left living would be the tiny creatures at the bottom of the sea who took their energy from the Earth's heat, not the Sun's. Everything else would have long since perished. A few centuries after the cloud's departure, the ice would mostly melt and the climate would return to normal. But the Sun would be shining down on a world strewn with desiccated corpses and maybe a few lucky microorganisms.

"Of course, that's being optimistic," Ami concluded. "If the cloud stays longer or does something we haven't anticipated, it could be worse."

**How the hell could it be worse?** Rei wanted to scream. Of course Ami hadn't meant it that way, but...

"Maybe we can do something," Usagi said. "Setsuna, we used to live on the Moon and that's really cold, right? They must have done that somehow."

"The sun shines on the moon just as it does the earth," Setsuna reminded her. "The people of the Silver Millennium had many arcane powers, and they used them to temper the moon's hellish days and frigid nights. But they depended on the sun just as we do."

Usagi's face fell. She had looked so eager, so hopeful. Now she looked like she was about to cry. Rei wasn't sure she could handle that right now... she'd be too tempted to join it. But then some new resolve played across Usagi's face. "Everyone... I really hate to say this, but maybe we have to think of some way to destroy it."

Rei stared at her, dumbfounded. She had said it in the same way one might suggest putting a rabid animal out of its misery: a simple task that nobody wanted to do.

Haruka snorted. "If we had any hope at all of doing **that**, do you think we'd be sitting here debating about it?"

"Haruka," Michiru said sternly, fixing her partner with a frosty stare.

Haruka's expression softened. She looked at Usagi apologetically, but said nothing.

"I'm sorry, but my power would be inadequate."

They all stared at little Hotaru. She had said that in dead earnest. A chill went down Rei's spine. Hotaru had actually been considering using her Silence Glaive. The weapon that could shatter the Earth. The weapon whose use would kill her.

Usagi gasped, horrified. "Oh Hotaru-chan, I wasn't even considering... No! You mustn't even think about doing that!"

"It's a moot point," Setsuna said calmly. "The combined power of the Ginzuishou and the Silence Glaive would hardly send a ripple through the cloud."

"Then we have to keep trying to contact it," Usagi said. "Rei says she touched a soul in the cloud. There must be some way we can talk to it. If it's that powerful, it must be able to find some way of getting the energy it needs here without freezing the Earth."

"I don't know what else there is to try," Michiru said, gesturing meaningfully at her talisman resting on the table. She had spent much time gazing into that mirror, looking for some sign of benevolence or malevolence or **anything** from the cloud. She had no more luck than Rei with her fire readings and meditation. Haruka had jokingly suggested sending blasts of energy from the Ginzuishou in morse code. That was about the only thing they **hadn't** tried. Rei had noticed Ami at the shrine before and after each of her visits here. She suspected Ami was taking a stab at praying to Nomura's Cloud. Not that Rei hadn't tried that herself already...

Rei heard footsteps coming down the hall. They were too heavy for her grandfather and Yuichirou knew better than to interrupt when Rei had guests. One of the wood and paper panels behind the outer senshi slid open. Rei just gaped in disbelief. Everyone turned to look.

"Kasukabe-san," Ami said. He looked like hell. His suit was rumpled and he was unshaven. He was swaying like a drunk. His bleary eyes scanned the room, as if he were unsure where he was. His gaze was attracted by Ami's voice, but he quickly focused on Rei. "Rei-san, we need to talk," he said without preamble.

Rei shot to her feet, utterly furious. "Kasukabe-san, what do you think you're doing? This is a private house, you have no right barging in like this!"

Kasukabe blinked. He seemed to get a better grip on himself, realizing what he was doing. "I'm very sorry, Rei-san. I know I'm being rude, but it's important we speak right away."

"You're damned **right** you're being rude!" Rei shot back. Their last encounter had been unpleasant enough but this was the last straw. "If you want to see me you can come back when the temple is open, but I want you out of here right **now**!"

Kasukabe made no sign of leaving. He was about to reply when he suddenly noticed something. He pointed to some papers in front of Ami. "You're talking about Nomura's Cloud, aren't you?"

Ami self-consciously put her hand out over the astronomical charts she had scattered in front of her, gathered them a little closer. She couldn't think of what to say.

Haruka suddenly stood up in front of Kasukabe, her face about level with his just a few inches away. "Listen pops, in case you haven't been paying attention the lady of the house just told you to leave. Is there some part of 'leave' you don't understand?" She cracked her knuckles for emphasis, perhaps her idea of a subtle hint.

Kasukabe went slack-jawed. Rei decided he couldn't have been more surprised if Luna or Artemis had walked in and spoken to him. Perhaps he just had no idea how to react to being confronted by this tall, androgynous, cross-dressing college girl. But there was something else in his expression. Rei had seen it before. Recognition.

Michiru and Setsuna were on their feet now, standing to either side of their friend, arms akimbo, staring Kasukabe down. He looked from one to the other, utterly bewildered. Rei had been worrying about just how unstable Kasukabe might be, maybe they were pushing him over the edge...

"It can't be," he said in a hoarse whisper. "Uranus. Neptune. Pluto."

"What the **hell** are you babbling about?" Haruka shouted.

Kasukabe was too enraptured to be intimidated. He just had this silly grin on his face. "Yes, it is you. It's been getting clearer. As the time approaches, things are becoming clearer. More memories... I remember you. The Goddess' own warrior angels. You were often there with her. To think that I would meet you here..."

Haruka turned around. "Rei, I take it this is that crackpot you were telling us about," she said, jabbing her thumb back at Kasukabe. "Do you want us to go toss him out the door for you?"

"No, wait," Rei said, raising her hand to stop any further action. Her anger had subsided, especially when she saw how overjoyed Kasukabe was to actually meet friends from his previous life. However unpleasant he was being, he deserved better than just being tossed out. "Kasukabe-sensei, please listen. I know you're confused about your visions, just as I was when my own memories of the Silver Millennium surfaced. If you want to talk about it, we can do that. But now is not the time. You've interrupted a private gathering, and I really must ask you to leave."

"I didn't come just to talk about my memories!" Kasukabe insisted. "Nomura has more data, he has **proof** about the Great Cloud, what it will do. It will be weeks before he can publish, but we don't have time!" He looked at Setsuna. "Pluto, you were one of her warrior angels, can you not but believe that we must prepare for her coming?"

He was becoming more incoherent, this was bad. Setsuna looked back to Rei and raised an eyebrow, as if asking how Rei wanted to handle this. Right now, Rei could think of only one way short of brute force to defuse this. "Kasukabe-san, there is one thing I haven't told you. I know that Queen Serenity will not be returning to us. I know that because I saw her die. We all did."

Kasukabe looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He staggered back, shaking his head. "No, you're wrong. That can't be. If you don't believe, then there are other children of the Goddess who will. Once they know the truth, they will gather to us. If you will not reveal the truth, if none of you will, then I will do it for you."

"That's it, this guy's flipped," Haruka said, reacting badly to his implied threat. She turned to Michiru. "Come on, let's take this fruitcake out back and explain exactly what's going to happen to him if he makes any more grief for us."

"That works for me," Michiru said, and they both advanced on him.

Suddenly the room was full of dancing motes of light. It looked for all the world like a blizzard of white feathers filling the room. There was a gentle sound like the beating of great feathery wings. Everyone felt a breeze whip through the room.

Eternal Sailor Moon stood where Usagi had been, hands at her hips, looking sternly at Kasukabe.

Haruka barely caught him before he fell to the floor. She muttered a curse as Michiru helped her ease him down into a sitting position.

Sailor Moon jumped over the table. For a moment she seemed weightless, as if held aloft by those great white wings. She alighted on the floor in front of Kasukabe as if she weighed nothing.

"I am the daughter of Queen Serenity," she announced to him.

"The Goddess..." he whispered. He would surely have keeled over if Haruka and Michiru were not holding on to him.

Usagi suddenly reached back to the table behind her and picked up a compass Ami had been using on the astronomical charts. She brought her arm up and swiped the tip of the compass across it. All her friends gasped. "Princess!" Setsuna called out, advancing a step towards her.

"Look!" Usagi cried, shoving her arm in front of Kasukabe's face. Blood welled up from the cut she had made, trickled slowly down her arm. "I am not a goddess, and neither was my mother. We can bleed and die just like you can. My mother gave her life so that we would have another chance. But she can't help us any more! She's dead! If we just sit and wait for her to come save us, then we'll all die and her sacrifice was for nothing!" Her voice was becoming increasingly shrill.

"Usagi..." Minako had made her way over to where Sailor Moon stood. She put her hand to Usagi's face and gently turned her head over to look at her. "Usagi, don't."

Usagi looked back at her. Her lip started trembling, tears welled up in her eyes. "Minako..." They embraced each other tightly. Usagi sniffled, tried to dry her tears. "Oh God. I don't know why I suddenly... I really messed this up, didn't I?"

"It's okay," Minako said, gently patting her back. "I think you made your point."

Rei looked at Kasukabe. His wild-eyed look of awe had vanished. He was not seeing a goddess any more, but rather a vulnerable young girl shedding tears over her long dead mother. Yes, it looked like Usagi had definitely made her point.

Sailor Moon disengaged herself from her friend's embrace, and went to kneel down in front of Kasukabe. He was having no problem sitting up without any help now. "Kasukabe-san, I'm sorry I shouted at you like that. I've heard all about this cloud and I'm kind of upset, I hope you'll understand."

Kasukabe nodded, still looking a bit bewildered. "Of course."

"I'm Princess Serenity, but you can just call me Usagi. These are my friends, my... warrior angels. Queen Serenity let us be reborn on this earth so that we could protect you. That's what we're trying to do."

"Princess..." Kasukabe began, caught himself, then with an effort continued. "Usagi-san. I... I have a thousand questions."

"And we have few answers," Setsuna said. Kasukabe looked up at her, standing over him. "We are in the same position as you, trying to make sense out of dim memories of the distant past. As the Princess' guardians we are sworn to protect any place she calls home. We will do that as best we can. Just accept that."

He looked back at Usagi, who smiled warmly. "Leave it to us," she said.

"What must... what can I do?" he asked uncertainly.

"Have faith," Rei said. She had come around the table to stand beside Sailor Moon. "Go back and tell your friends what you have been telling them, to have faith. Sometimes that's all you can do."

Kasukabe nodded. He got awkwardly to his feet. "Rei-san... I am truly sorry for... for having caused you and your friends such distress. I had no right. I will do as you ask. But I promise I will reveal nothing of what I have seen here."

"Thank you," Rei said. "Are you feeling okay now?"

He smiled weakly. "Actually, I haven't felt this good in a long time. But I've overstayed my welcome, I should be going."

"I'll see you to the door."

Rei saw him out. He really did look much better than when he had arrived. Rei regretted not having told him the whole truth from the start, it might have saved him a lot of distress. She watched him go as far as the stairs leading down the street, then she went to rejoin her companions. By this time, Sailor Moon had reverted back to Usagi. Ami was beside her, fussing over her cut arm. The two cats had joined the group. Felines being light sleepers, no doubt they had been woken by the ruckus.

Luna noticed Rei's return. She didn't look happy. "Rei, I heard about what happened. Does that man really know your identities?"

"If you mean does he know we're the Sailor Senshi, yes, I would think he's figured that out."

"Can you trust him?"

"I asked him to have faith in us. He promised to keep our secret, and I accept that."

Luna nodded. Once Rei put her faith in somebody, there was no point arguing about it.

"I feel sort of dumb, falling asleep while you were all out there on a mission," Artemis said apologetically.

"A good soldier sleeps whenever the opportunity arises," Makoto said, patting his head.

"Speaking of which, are we done yet?" Hotaru said, punctuating her question with a great yawn.

"Oh no, don't do that," Usagi pleaded. But it was too late, she barely finished before she yawned herself.

Michiru kneeled down beside Hotaru and put an arm around her. "We're all tired, I think we should be heading home." She looked at Luna. "We really don't have anything new to report from this trip. I'm afraid we're right back where we started."

Which was as good a way as any to sum up the day.

# # # #

Rei sat in her room, reading the evening paper. There was an article on Nomura's Cloud. More and more astronomers were beginning to suspect that its passage might have an effect on the Earth's climate. It was starting to draw the attention of the general press. Ami's extraordinary computer had given her an edge on them, she thought it would be weeks before they realized just what a threat the cloud really was. Nomura's conclusions were still considered to be premature, but more people were listening to him. As more data came in, it was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

Rei got up and headed outside, intending to do the last of the chores before turning in for the night. She found herself dreading it. The daily rituals of maintaining the shrine usually brought comfort. But now they just brought on a feeling of utter futility. She kept picturing the carefully manicured grounds crushed under miles of ice.

She put on her sandals and walked out to the shrine. In the fading sunlight she saw two figures kneeling before it. As she approached, she was surprised to see that it was Ami and Makoto. She hadn't been expecting them. Ami had been spending a lot of time at Setsuna's place these past few days. They were working on something or other to do with the cloud, though so far they hadn't said much about it. Last night Ami had said that she and Makoto would be spending the night over there, apparently they were back now. Rei stood quietly and let them finish, then walked over to greet them.

Makoto waved. "Hi Rei."

"Hi. You two must have spent the whole day at Setsuna's." She noticed they each had an overnight bag slung over one shoulder.

"Yeah, we just got back into Juban. We both sort of felt like dropping by before we headed home, you know?"

"Sure," Rei said, understanding fully. She was glad the shrine was affording comfort to at least some of them. "Any news?"

"Nothing definite," Ami said just a little too quickly. "We were just brainstorming."

Ami was still being mysterious about what they were working on. Rei decided not to press the point. "Listen, it's late and you've both got your overnight bags. Since we were planning on meeting here tomorrow morning anyway, why don't you stay the night?"

They both smiled. "Thanks Rei, that would be nice," Makoto said. Ami added a happy "me too" monosyllable. They both lived in apartments, so they welcomed any excuse to spend a nice summer night in Rei's house. But now more than ever, they could all just use the companionship.

Rei showed them into the house, then went to finish her chores for the day. When she was done, she went to check up on her friends. She peered in through the open door of the guest room. They had laid out the futons, and Ami was already in her night dress. She was sitting quietly on a cushion in front of the low table, where a reading lamp provided the only illumination. She looked up and smiled at Rei. "Turning in early?" Rei asked.

"Not necessarily, just getting comfortable," Ami answered.

Rei took this as encouragement to step inside and join her. She sat down on another cushion beside the table. "Is this what you've been working on?" Rei asked, indicating some papers Ami had piled on the table.

"That's... some of it, yes," Ami answered, sounding rather uncomfortable.

Rei's eye was caught by the page on top of the pile. It was a small map of Tokyo. Three concentric circles had been drawn over the map with a compass. "That looks kind of ominous," she commented.

"How so?"

"It reminds me of maps they'd make during the Cold War. You know, the ones that showed the effect of an atomic bomb on a city, where the blast radius would go out to."

"Yeah, I guess it does," Ami said with a wooden voice. She was just looking down at the floor.

Rei watched Ami in silence. Eventually, Ami forced herself to meet her gaze. "Ami, is there something you're not telling me?"

Ami had her best poker face on, but her sad eyes told Rei that she was right. "It's not something we need to talk about now, Rei."

"Ami, whatever it is, how much worse could it be than keeping me in the dark?"

"I suppose you're right." After a pause, Ami continued. "Rei, do you remember that butterfly I gave you last year?"

"Yes, of course." Ami had adapted her powers as Sailor Mercury to encase several butterflies in beautiful clear crystals. She had given one of these lovely ornaments to each of the other four Inner Senshi. Rei's was still sitting on a cabinet in her room.

"Do you recall its significance?"

"I remember what you told me. It's an experiment. You were using a technique something like what that Snow Queen used, the one that called herself Princess Kaguya. Her Snow Dancers could freeze people in crystals, keep them like that indefinitely. You wanted to see if you could do the same."

"That's right. I wanted to see if I could perfect a form of suspended animation. A way to let people be frozen, then revived again much later."

Then it hit Rei, and she gasped. She recalled what Ami had told her then, why she was interested in doing this.

To freeze five billion people for a thousand years.

"My God... that's what you've been working on," Rei breathed.

"Yes."

"But I thought... haven't you been working on some way to contact the cloud?"

Ami shook her head. "It's hopeless. You know we've tried everything. We've run out of ideas."

Rei's heart was racing. In her blissful ignorance she had just been assuming that they would find something. Ami's genius and Setsuna's wisdom had never let them down before. "Is there really nothing else we can do?" she asked desperately.

"No, I don't think so," Ami said in that same maddeningly calm voice.

Gods, didn't she realize what she was saying? Rei wondered. Rei shook her head, still recovering from the shock. "I know the Snow Queen nearly did this herself, I saw it happening with my own eyes. But, it just seems too fantastic, can you really do it?"

"I think we can. I've perfected the technique, at least as best I can in so short a time. The Ginzuishou can provide the power to do it on a mass scale. But we would all need to work together. I have a pretty good idea how much energy Usagi can draw from it without endangering her life."

"And it will be enough?" Rei asked, still unable to believe.

"Yes..." Ami said hesitantly, then averted her eyes. "Probably enough to preserve most of Tokyo."

"**What**?" Rei sat up straight. "Tokyo? What are you talking about?" she snapped.

Ami regarded her sternly, as if annoyed by Rei's tone. "It makes sense. It's the greatest concentration of people and advanced infrastructure on the planet. We couldn't pick a better place to focus our effort."

"But what about everybody else?" Rei demanded. "Why stop at Tokyo?"

"Because we have a limited window, we'll only get one chance. The technique works properly in a very narrow temperature range. That's why the Snow Queen was also causing those snowstorms, it was in preparation. We'll have to wait until the sun has already been blotted out and the temperature has started to fall."

"That doesn't answer my question!" Rei said, slamming a fist down on the table.

"I told you, we'll only get one chance. At best, we'll be able to save a few million people over a few hundred square miles. That's why Tokyo is the best choice."

"Why can't we do the same for everybody?" Rei asked, fighting the panic and despair she felt. "The Snow Queen was going to do this to the whole world, why can't we?"

"Rei, try to understand," Ami said soothingly, trying to calm Rei down. "She had hundreds, maybe thousands of Snow Dancers at her command, all born and bred to the task. We are nine, and we will be performing a task that our powers are not suited for. It will be a miracle if we can even save most of the people in just this city, let alone the rest of the world."

"But we **can't** do this!" Rei shouted. She could feel herself losing her grip, but she was past caring. "It would be worse than letting everybody die! Just save our home town? It's genocide! There must be another way!"

"There isn't," Ami said in a raised voice, her composure wavering. "We've gone over it again and again, this is the best we can do."

"How the hell can you sit there and calmly tell me we have to just watch the whole world die?" Rei shouted, her voice becoming husky. She could feel tears of rage and frustration welling up.

"The numbers don't lie!" Ami shot back, snatching up her little computer and holding it out in front of Rei. "The place we can save the most lives is right here, you just have to do the math."

Rei lashed out without even realizing it, hitting Ami's wrist with a vicious backhand that sent the little palmtop sailing. It hit the wall with a dull thud just as Ami fell back onto the futon behind her. The unexpectedness of the blow rather than its force had bowled her over. She lay there, propping herself up on her arms, looking back at Rei in utter shock.

"To hell with your numbers!" Rei cried out, her voice shrill. "You cold-hearted bitch! It's just another exercise in mathematics for you, isn't it? Those numbers you're playing with are people, and you don't even care! You've got no more feelings than that damned computer of yours!"

Ami shook her head, trembling all over. "How can you say that?" she whimpered.

"Because no human being could ever come up with **this**!" Rei shouted, hitting the pile of papers on the table and sending them flying.

Ami slumped over, buried her face in the quilt and started sobbing. Rei started to get up, not coherent enough to know what she intended to do.

Suddenly it didn't matter what she intended to do. Somebody grabbed her from behind, savagely twisted her arm behind her and pulled her up to her feet. Rei's cry stuck in her throat as she was paralyzed with pain.

Somebody put their lips right next to her ear. "We're going to your room right now," came Makoto's low growl. "If you give me any trouble, I'll break your arm."

The pain had cut through Rei's rage, extinguished it like ice water. Makoto pulled her to the door, giving no consideration to how this would hurt her. Rei nearly fainted from the pain. But she managed to stay on her feet. She let herself be led down the hall. Makoto gradually eased the pressure. By the time they reached Rei's room, she was simply leading Rei by the arm. Makoto released her when they had entered her room. Rei staggered over to a cabinet and leaned on it, panting, waiting for the pain to dwindle to a tolerable level, for the adrenaline to subside. She barely heard the door being shut behind her. After a while, Rei stood up straight again, involuntarily massaging her aching arm. All the feeling was drained out of her, she just felt numb. She turned to face Makoto.

Makoto stood in front of the door, her arms crossed, glaring at Rei. "Well, what have you got to say for yourself?" Makoto asked bitterly.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I **mean**? What the hell do you think, I'm talking about what you did to Ami!" Makoto said, her anger barely contained.

"Do you know what she's been..."

"Of course I know! She told me all about it when we were at Setsuna's place. We were going to tell the rest of you tomorrow."

"Don't you..." Rei gestured vaguely over towards where they had left Ami, ignoring the pain that caused. "Doesn't she even understand what it is she's suggesting?"

Rei hadn't thought it would be possible for Makoto's face to express any more contempt, but the look she gave Rei now made her shiver, shocked her to silence. After a few moments, Makoto began to speak very carefully and deliberately. "When Ami first told me about her plan I was just as shocked as you were. At the time, she was actually excited about it. She thought that she could save everyone. Then she started to work on the numbers. She was at it for hours on end. I wasn't any help to her of course, but I was with her just about the whole time. Just to be there with her, try to make her feel like she wasn't facing this alone. She never said anything, but I could see it in her face. The growing realization, the despair. She was almost in tears when she told me just how little we would really be able to do. She blamed herself entirely. If only she had been devoting more time to the experiments before. If only she were smarter, if only she could think of something else. I did what I could to comfort her. We all did, Setsuna and Haruka and Michiru and even little Hotaru. We tried to remind her of all the times she's come through for us, all the times she's pulled off miracles that nobody else could. By the time Ami and I made our way here, I thought maybe I had convinced her that it wasn't really her fault, that she'd done more than anybody had a right to expect from her. And then **you** had to come along and..." Makoto's voice broke, and she turned away, shuddering. Her fists were clenched at her sides. Rei watched in silence as Makoto fought her pent-up tension, slowly got her breathing back down to normal. "I'm just grateful that Minako isn't here. She hides it well, but I know she's still in love with Ami. If she knew what you did, she'd probably kill you.

"I'm going back to check up on Ami," Makoto said. The brief look she shot at Rei completed the sentence for her: **before I do something I'll regret later.** Without another word, she slid the door open, stepped out and closed it behind her.

Rei stood there for several minutes, lost in thought. Eventually, she went to sit down on her bed. A tear trickled down her cheek. She knew that time healed all wounds, even the ones inflicted on friends. But right now, she would give up her life in a heartbeat if only she could take back what she had done.

# # # #

Rei awoke from a disturbing dream that she did not remember well. For a moment she couldn't remember why she felt so miserable, and why she was so sore. Then memories of the previous night came flooding back. The feeling of shame was like a knife in her gut.

She sat up and looked at the clock. It was late, the others would be here soon. She had forgotten to set the alarm. It had been very late before she had been able to get any sleep at all. She put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and went to wash up a bit. Not having seen anyone else about, she went to the dining room and slid open one of the panels.

Rei had been wondering whether her friends had decided to go home. But Ami sat on a cushion by the long table, dressed as she had been yesterday. She looked up from her computer and smiled shyly. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Rei said awkwardly.

"Makoto went to start up the boiler for a shower," Ami explained. "We got here a bit late to have one last night. I hope that's okay."

"Sure." Rei went to sit down, still very tense. She gestured toward the computer. "That... uh, it works okay?"

Ami forced a smile. "Yes, it's fine." She probably wanted to say something like **It's been through a lot worse** but chose not to.

"Is your hand..." Rei broke down, burying her face in one hand, shuddering. "Oh Gods..." She just couldn't dance around it like this. She looked back up. "Ami, can you ever forgive me?"

Ami averted her sad eyes for a moment, then met Rei's gaze again. "Rei, last night I resolved I'd never hide the truth from you again. So I'll tell you the truth now. I was really hurt by what you said. But I know you didn't mean it. I know it wasn't really me you were angry with. Of course I can forgive you."

Rei sniffed, wiped a tear away. "Thank you, Ami," she said, her voice thick. In a moment, she was able to speak again. "Makoto told me about how you worked on this plan, about how hard it was for you. You were explaining it all to me so calmly... but I know you better, I should have known how you were feeling."

"Sometimes I have to ignore how I feel," Ami said. "Detaching myself from the problem is the only way I can bring myself to work on it at all. Especially something like this."

"It's so unfair," Rei mused. "I mean, that this burden should fall on you. You're such a gentle soul. That you should have to juggle millions of lives as if they were just numbers... I wish so much that I could do it for you."

Ami smiled warmly. "You already do a lot to ease the burden. I don't think you realize what a comfort you are to me."

"You can't mean that," Rei said, looking down, unable to keep the shame and bitterness out of her voice.

"Rei, look at me," Ami asked. Rei complied. Ami's stern expression was softened by the gentleness of her voice. "When I had just become a Sailor Senshi, Usagi and I were fighting the Dark Kingdom on our own. I hid it well, but I was terrified. The things we were fighting defied all logic, they had no place in my world. Things like that just weren't supposed to exist. I couldn't cope with it, I thought I would go mad."

Ami's expression softened as she continued. "Then I met you. Even before you became a Sailor Senshi you accepted the world of spirits and magic. You moved about in that world with confidence. With your magic you saw things I could never see, you made the evil go away. Knowing you were there... that's what kept me going."

Rei looked at her friend as if seeing her for the first time. It was a bitter-sweet feeling, hearing Ami say these things. Knowing how Ami regarded her, Rei could see how badly she had let Ami down yesterday. Rei resolved that it would never, ever happen again.

Rei heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Makoto enter the room.

"Morning," Makoto said, eyeing her coolly. Her eyes fixed on Ami for a moment. Satisfied with whatever she saw there, she looked back at Rei, perhaps some of the suspicion in her face gone. "Shower's free."

"I'll go later," Rei said, turning back to Ami. "Why don't you go ahead, I'll get started with breakfast."

"Thanks." For a moment she seemed reluctant to leave, but she got up and headed for the door. "I'll come give you a hand later."

"How's the arm?" Makoto asked after Ami had left.

"Just a little sore."

"You patch things up with Ami?"

"Yes. She was very understanding, but I still feel awful. Mako-chan..."

"You don't have to say anything," Makoto interrupted, leaning against the wall. "I reacted kind of badly too, when Ami told me about it."

"I'll bet you didn't hit her."

"No. But since then all I could think of was what that crazy Snow Queen was doing to Tokyo, freezing people in those crystals. Now we're planning to do the same thing. I mean... God, what a way for Crystal Tokyo to start off."

Rei just stared at her. She hadn't made that connection. Was this really the fate that Ami had so feared, the thousand year slumber that would precede the founding of Crystal Tokyo?

Makoto smiled. "Sorry, I'm just rambling. Come on, I'll give you a hand in the kitchen."

Rei was strangely comforted by the thought of simple domestic chores. That was more the sort of thing human beings were meant to deal with, not Armageddon. She stood up. "Thanks," she said, grateful for more reasons than one.

# # # #

Rei stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Moonlight angled in through the window, just bright enough to illuminate everything in silver monochrome. The even breathing she heard next to her told her that her two companions were managing to get some sleep. With the three of them in the guest room, it was a little cramped. And she could guess that Minako, staying at Usagi's place tonight, had probably pulled up a futon next to Usagi's bed.

None of us wants to be alone, Rei mused, on the night after the day we decided the fate of the Earth. They would all want to be with somebody, somebody else who shared their nightmare.

It had not been easy. Luna and Artemis already knew what Ami had been working on. But Minako and Usagi had taken it hard. Usagi had broken down crying more than once. But Ami had been patient, explaining again and again why it had to be this way. When Ami was done, Luna tried to talk to Usagi, explain things in her own way. Then Rei had spoken with her. She shuddered, Usagi's tear-streaked face floating clear as day before her. It had really looked as if Usagi could feel the coming death-throes of the entire world, was imagining all that pain and making it her own. It left Rei numb, thinking of her friend's seemingly infinite capacity for empathy. Usagi was capable of feeling compassion for even their most bitter enemies. It frightened Rei, trying to imagine what Usagi was feeling now, with the deaths of five billion innocents hanging over her.

In the afternoon they had all taken a walk down to Juban Park, on Makoto's suggestion that they needed to take a break, try to forget about all this for a little while. They hadn't talked much. They had all been sitting under the shade of a wide tree, enjoying the breeze in companionable silence, when Usagi turned to Ami and simply said "Ami-chan, we'll do it exactly as you suggested."

And that was how the fate of the Earth had been decided.

There were details to work out, but there was plenty of time to do that. The real work would not start for months. As they talked, it became clear that the main thing on everybody's minds was what they would do with themselves in the meantime. The consensus seemed to be that they would all try to go on with their normal lives as best they could. But they had carefully avoided talking about certain issues, at least for today. For instance, what to do when the Earth's fate became obvious to all. Who to tell, who to comfort with the news that it would really be okay... at least for some of them.

Rei's thoughts, dulled by the sleep that threatened but would not come, wandered to the cloud entity. She thought of the soul she had touched, so great and clear yet so maddeningly elusive. Ami still thought it was probably a mindless energy hunter. Nevertheless, she had told them she was considering coming clean with Professor Kakeru, revealing her identity and explaining everything. Perhaps he could spearhead an attempt to contact the entity by more prosaic means, radio waves or something. Rei tried to clear her head. Thinking about this wasn't doing any good, what she needed right now was sleep.

Sleep.

Rei gasped, shot straight up into a sitting position. "That's it!" she blurted out involuntarily, forgetting herself in her excitement.

There was confused mumbling next to her, then an irritated groan. "What...? Rei, is something wrong?" came Ami's sleepy voice.

Rei looked over to see that Ami was sitting up now too. She practically leaped over to take Ami by the shoulders. "Ami, that's it! It's sleeping! It's dreaming!"

Even in the pale moonlight, it was plain to see how startled Ami was. She was fully awake now, but still a moment or two away from becoming coherent.

"What the hell...?" A night-light came on, to reveal Makoto stretched over to switch it on. She gave Rei a dangerous look. "Rei, what do you think you're doing?"

"It's okay," Ami said, holding a hand out to Makoto but still staring at Rei. "Rei, tell me what's wrong."

"That's why we can't contact it," Rei said all in one gush. "It's asleep, or in hibernation. Hibernating animals can dream too, I know people who can feel them just from their dreams..."

"Slow down," Ami implored, putting a hand on Rei's shoulder. "Try to relax. Start at the beginning."

Rei released her grip on Ami, closed her eyes and took a moment to calm herself. "Ami, I think I've figured out why we can't contact the cloud entity. It's not in a conscious state, it's sleeping or hibernating or something equivalent."

"That's... possible," Ami said hesitantly. "It may not be in a conscious state until it gets enough energy from a star. Maybe to conserve energy on the long trip between stars. All its actions so far could be interpreted as just conditioned reflex." Her eyes had gone staring out into space as her analytical mode kicked in full time.

"But how does that help us?" Makoto asked, still lying half under her quilt, propped up on one arm. Where Ami was fascinated by this new revelation, Makoto just wanted to know what it could do for them.

"I can contact it through the dreamscape," Rei answered Makoto, then looked back at Ami. "It must have an active dream life like we do, if it were just in a deep coma or something I wouldn't have been able to detect it at all."

"So it may be aware of us, but only like a sleepwalker," Ami said, sounding more like she was just completing a thought. Then she met Rei's gaze. "But what do you mean, contacting it through the dreamscape?"

"It's the realm we inhabit when we dream," Rei explained. "It's the place where Elios contacted Chibi-usa in the form of Pegasus. It's where Usagi unconsciously reached out to Mamoru, sending him a vision of the Silver Millennium before either of them really understood who they were. It's where King Endymion contacted his former self, sending him that vision of destruction to test his resolve."

"I don't get it, you're saying that's a place that really exists?" Makoto asked.

"Yes, it exists. We don't know where or how, but it's there. And all souls inhabit that realm at some time or another. That's where the cloud entity is right now."

"How exactly do you plan on contacting it, though?" Ami asked. Her tone was gentle but strained, afraid that she was about to burst Rei's balloon.

"There are ways to enter the dreamscape and maintain conscious control," Rei said. "We all have that potential, just in normal dreaming, but it's possible to have enough control to actually enter other people's dreams, talk to them there."

"I remember you talking about this before," Makoto said. "You said the way to do that is by using some sort of potion."

"Yes, there's an herb mixture that helps."

"Is it safe?" Makoto asked suspiciously.

"If it's done right, yes." Rei was glossing over the fact that she would have to go find out how to do it right.

"Even if you can do that, how would you contact the entity?" Ami asked, sounding just as sceptical as Makoto. "If I understand what you are saying there will be a billion other people in the dreamscape with you. How will you even start?"

"I've heard that contacting a specific person in the dreamscape is helped by being as close as possible to the sleeper."

"But..." Ami cut herself off by a sudden intake of breath as she realized what Rei meant.

"Yes," Rei said, nodding once. "If you all teleport out there with me, I think I can do this."

# # # #

Usagi leaned over the stove, sniffed tentatively at the wisps of steam rising from the little pot. She stepped back, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Rei, no offense but that smells awful."

"That's why I've got the exhaust fan in the range hood going full blast," Rei said, going back to give her concoction another stir. "Don't want to stink up Setsuna's whole house, after all."

"But I can't believe you're going to **drink** that stuff," Usagi said. There were hints of genuine worry in the airs of mock disgust Usagi was putting on.

Rei gave her a little smile. "I'm not adding herbs for the taste, you know. Don't worry, Usagi-chan, it'll be fine."

Usagi smiled, despite herself. She was trying so hard, to believe in Rei's mad scheme. Rei loved her for that, wished there was some way she could express that properly. But now was not the time.

"So will it be ready soon?"

"Yes. When it's done, I'll just need a few minutes to prepare myself while it cools."

"I'll go outside and wait with the others, then. When you come out, we'll all be transformed and ready to go." She impulsively went over to give Rei a hug. "We'll be waiting."

"Thanks, Usagi," Rei said, holding her tightly for just a second. She went out in the direction of the greenhouse. It led out into the yard, where Rei knew the others were waiting, ready to teleport Rei to where she would need to be.

It was less than a minute before Rei heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see Ami come into the big, bright kitchen. She was still dressed in her light blue summer dress, not yet transformed to Sailor Mercury. "Am I disturbing you?" she asked with genuine concern.

"No, I just have to leave it to stew for a few minutes more."

Ami looked at the little stainless steel pot where Rei had her herb mixture at a slow boil. Her face had that mildly worried, nervous look she would get whenever they were heading for enemy ground. "So you'll be ready soon," she said simply.

"Yes," Rei said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I've been reading a bit about what you're going to be trying. I haven't said anything to the others, but it looks like this is more dangerous than what you've been leading us all to believe. People have been driven insane by what they've seen in the dreamscape under the influence of these drugs."

"I'm aware of the danger," Rei said. "I told you all that I was willing to take the risk, and everybody accepted that. I'm not misleading anybody."

Ami's expression didn't change, it wasn't clear whether she was conceding the point. "I've also been looking into what would happen if you... if you were not in any condition to help us, when it becomes time to release the preservation crystals on the city. With one of us missing, it would be much more difficult to focus our power. I don't think we would be able to save more than a small fraction of the people we could otherwise."

Rei looked back at her for a moment, knowing that the disappointment she was feeling must be showing in her face. "Ami, you're here to test my resolve, aren't you? You need to know whether I have any real confidence in this, or whether I'm just desperate enough to try anything."

Ami looked decidedly more uncomfortable, but she didn't back down. She still watched Rei sternly, expecting an answer.

Rei looked down and sighed. "Ami, I know I haven't done much lately to earn your trust. You have every reason to doubt me. Since I can't give you any facts and figures that you can check, the only thing you can test is my own belief in what I'm doing. Well, you've done that now." Fearing that she had sounded bitter, Rei looked imploringly at her friend again, trying to soften the blow. "Ami, don't you think just this once you could be a little less analytical? Even if I don't deserve it, couldn't you try to have a little faith?"

Ami turned, facing away from Rei. But not on time to keep Rei from getting a glimpse of the pain that showed in her face. "Sometimes..." Ami involuntarily clutched the edge of the counter top in front of her, squeezed it hard as she continued. "Sometimes I wish I could switch off my brain for just a little while."

Rei stepped over to her. She very lightly took hold of Ami's shoulders, rested against her back. "Oh Ami-chan... I really don't mean to keep hurting you." she said softly.

Ami was silent for a few moments. "Faith is not something that comes easily to me. If it's any consolation, I have more faith in you than I have in any person I know or any god I've ever prayed to."

"It... helps to know that," Rei said, knowing anything more she could say would be just as much of a gross understatement.

Ami stepped away from Rei's gentle touch, turned to face her. "I'll be waiting with the others. Take as much time as you need." She smiled warmly, and went in the direction that Usagi had taken.

Rei went to check on her potion. All the ingredients had fully dissolved, it was ready. She poured the contents into one of Haruka's oversized coffee mugs. This she took with her out into the garden. As Usagi had promised, all eight of them stood ready in their Sailor Senshi forms. A thick cover of clouds obscured the late morning sun. It would probably rain soon. Not that this mattered, they would soon be far from the annoying habits of the Earth's atmosphere. Everybody smiled encouragingly, but nobody said anything. Probably under orders from Usagi. Rei returned their smiles, walked over to them. She looked down at what they were gathered around. It was a quilted sleeping bag, zipped open at the top. This was the simplest way they could come up with to keep her as warm as possible when she was floating with them in the icy expanses of space. They were planning on teleporting a fair distance away from the cloud, but nevertheless they expected its life energy drain to be present. Hopefully this would mitigate its chilling effect, and help the protective bubble keep her comfortably warm.

Rei slipped out of her sandals, sat cross-legged on the open part of the quilt, put her mug down on the ground and arranged her robes a bit. She looked at Ami, who already had her translucent blue visor across her eyes. Ami nodded, indicating that she understood what was to be done. As soon as Rei's brain waves showed that she was going into REM sleep, they would teleport her near the cloud. Rei closed her eyes, ran through the ritual of emptying her mind. When the time was right, she picked up the mug again. The brew had cooled sufficiently that she could take it down all at once. It didn't taste quite as bad as it had smelled, Rei decided. She tried not to think too much about the fact that this was her first time tasting it. She got into the sleeping bag, thinking of how silly it was to be wearing her shrine maiden outfit inside it. Symbolism, she reminded herself. Even Ami realized its importance.

The potion took effect with astonishing speed. Very soon, Rei was utterly oblivious to her surroundings, falling into blackness.

# # # #

Rei found herself standing on a field of ice. The stars twinkled in a clear sky. The relatively smooth ice field, dotted by occasional small outcroppings of jagged ice or rock and dusted with snow here and there, spread out under the silvery starlight as far as she could see. The air was utterly still. She hugged herself and shivered, feeling the cold. She looked down, and gasped at what she saw. She was no longer wearing her robes. In fact, she wasn't wearing anything at all. The ice should have been freezing her bare feet, but in fact she felt only mild discomfort.

Everything in the dreamscape has meaning, she reminded herself. The meaning of this was pretty straightforward. She felt exposed and vulnerable out here in this unknown landscape. In a word, naked.

She examined her surroundings more closely. When she turned around, she saw that the sky at the horizon behind her was a little brighter, the stars there just starting to fade away. Somehow she understood that this was the promise of a coming sunrise. This was the direction she needed to go if she would seek warmth. Therefore her goal must lie in the other direction, she concluded. She turned back the way she had originally been facing and fixed on a star that was as close as she could guess to the opposite direction of the sunrise. She started walking, all the while looking around her for any change, any indication of life.

Time and distance were impossible to judge. Rei had the vague impression that she had been walking for a very long time, had covered a great distance. She felt no fatigue, just the bone-chilling cold that was less a physical sensation, more an oppressive emptiness. She had the feeling this land had not felt the touch of life for a very, very long time.

At first she thought she was imagining it, but soon she was sure she could see a dim light on the horizon directly ahead. It grew brighter or moved closer or perhaps simply stood there as Rei approached, it probably didn't matter. Rei suppressed the urge to step up her pace, suspecting that it wouldn't make any difference in this place. Her desire to reach her destination was what would lead her there.

When Rei came close, she approached more hesitantly, unsure what she was seeing. She stepped as close as felt comfortable, looking up at it in wonder. An immense swarm of fireflies floated in front of her. They formed a rough egg shape, starting from just above the icy ground, soaring far over her head. The surrounding ice was bathed in their silvery glow. Rei watched, mesmerized by the dizzying formations that formed and broke up and reformed as the fireflies flew around in lazy circles. Their gentle buzzing was hardly a murmur, a barely noticeable white noise.

The cloud. It had to be.

Overcoming her initial fear, Rei stepped even closer, looked into the swarm. She could focus on any one of the tiny creatures only for an instant, hardly long enough to get a clear picture. What she half saw evoked a stronger version of the feeling she got when watching insects, an uncomfortable reaction to a living being that was utterly alien, something at once beautiful and repulsive.

Rei practically had her face stuck into the swarm, but they were not reacting to her in any way. Hesitantly, she called out a greeting and waited. She did this a few times. She probably imagined their formations changing at the sound of her voice, it was hard to be sure.

Rei was beginning to get the unsettling feeling that whatever she sought here lay within the swarm. Unwilling to just push her way through, she experimentally raised her hand and moved her fingers into the swarm. She felt a gentle tingling as little pinpricks played across her hand. The swarm whirled and rippled around the spot where she had disturbed it. She moved her whole hand into their formation, turned it around. The little fireflies continued to flow around it, forming a mesmerizing interference pattern centred on her hand. Rei just stood there for a while, wondering if she had gotten their attention now, wondering if it even made any sense to ask that question. She blinked several times, the dancing lights making her dizzy. She looked down a bit, and her mouth dropped open in silent shock.

The swarm had swallowed her arm almost up to the elbow. It was either moving towards her or expanding.

Fighting the instinct to pull away, Rei stood there, letting the swarm envelop her. She involuntarily closed her eyes as she started to feel the pinpricks on her face. She shivered, as the feeling spread all over her. She felt like she was being sand-blasted, but somehow it was not uncomfortable at all. It almost felt as if the little fireflies were passing right through her now, coursing up and down every nerve of her body. It was disquieting, but Rei remained passive, trying to just accept what was happening.

She felt the swarm draw away from her again. She opened her eyes. The swarm floated above her again, but it was slowly moving. No... collapsing. Their egg-shaped formation was getting smaller and brighter before her eyes. The shimmering in the light intensified, as if they were all flying faster now. She thought surely they must already be packed too closely to fly past each other, but still the swarm shrank, until it was hardly bigger than her and almost too bright to look at directly. It took form, no longer just light now but both light and shadow. Soon its form gave off no light at all, but simply reflected the starlight just as everything else did.

The Cloud stood before her.

It looked exactly like Rei, she might as well have been looking at a mirror. But it was certainly no mirror. Rei was too stunned to speak, but the Cloud regarded her with an expression that showed just mild curiosity and puzzlement. It stepped closer, examined her face intently. It began to walk around her, looking her up and down. Rei turned her head to follow it, but decided to just stand there, let it walk around her. It came back around in front of her, looked at her some more, then raised its arms, **her** arms, in front of it as if seeing them for the first time.

It took some time for Rei to work up her courage. But when the Cloud directed its attention to her again, she was finally ready. "Hello. My name is Rei. I'd like to speak with you. Do you understand?"

The Cloud raised an eyebrow, an utterly human reaction that took Rei off guard. She almost jumped when she heard it address her in her own voice. "Yes, I understand you. What is the purpose of assuming this form?" it asked in a neutral tone.

She was stunned and thrilled all at once. The Cloud was actually talking to her. She tried to calm herself, understand what it was asking her. "This is my true form," Rei said, pointing to herself. "This is what I really look like."

"Then you are not a Cloud?" it asked, mildly surprised.

"No. I live on one of the planets of the sun you are approaching. There are many, many more like me."

The Cloud frowned, as if what Rei said made no sense. "Many of you living on the planet... so small, difficult to grasp the scale involved."

Rei was wondering how to respond when the setting around them shimmered and rippled as if seen through water. She blinked hard, fighting a feeling of vertigo. Her vision cleared again, and she looked about her in wonder.

They were on the grounds of her school. It was a bright, sunny day. The Sisters and the students moved to and fro around them. She could feel a gentle breeze, hear birds flying overhead. It was all very real, but somehow it was impossible for Rei to focus on anything. It was as if she had only peripheral vision.

Then she found something she could focus on. The Cloud. It still looked exactly like her, but now they were both dressed in the school uniform. It looked around. "These other ones are like you?" it asked.

Rei wasn't quite sure what she was being asked. "They are all very much like me, but none is exactly the same. Each one is different."

"So each of you is like a separate Cloud," it responded, sounding a little astonished by the thought. "You are not all one." It looked up at the sun, then pointed at a tree. "Does that gather energy for you?" it asked.

Rei tried to guess what it meant. "We eat plants that gather energy from the sun, yes," she responded. Once again the shimmering and the feeling of vertigo. They were sitting in the dining room of the temple residence. All the shutters were open, letting the warm breeze through. The Cloud was seated opposite her, still in the school uniform. The remains of lunch was laid out before them. Rei had the feeling she had just eaten. The Cloud looked about, once again seeming to take in all of its surroundings at once. Rei no longer felt the emptiness she had felt out on the ice field, she could feel the warmth of Planet Earth around her. The way the Cloud cast its gaze about with unfocused eyes, Rei got the impression it was seeing far beyond this room, sensing the whole dreamscape world around them with a sort of perception she could not even guess at.

The Cloud pointed out an open window. "Is that one your ancestor?"

Rei looked to see her grandfather working in one of the flower gardens. "Yes, that's my grandfather."

"But that one did not give you life."

Rei turned to answer, but choked on the first word. The Cloud still looked back at her with her own eyes. The eyes of a child. Her mother was there, just as Rei remembered her, cradling the Cloud in her arms, looking down at her with those eyes full of love and serenity. The Cloud looked at least five years old, about how old Rei was when her mother...

Rei looked away. **I've seen her in my dreams before, this is no different. I have accepted what happened.**

"This one has ceased to be," the Cloud said simply, in little Rei's child voice.

"Yes," Rei breathed.

"Why?" An older voice. Rei looked up again, to see her mirror image again, looking back at her with that same look of mild curiosity.

"She got sick and died. We are very... fragile. That's what I'm here to warn you about. If you come too close to our sun, it will freeze over our whole planet. We will all die."

Once again the shimmering, but not the vertigo. Somehow, Rei understood that this time the change of scene was due more to her own unconscious desire than the Cloud's. It was dark and cold. They stood on the roof of the great flat observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, the tower's naked girders arcing up far over them. The girders were thickly coated with ice. The city was buried in ice and snow, only some of the tallest buildings showing through. To the north a titanic glacier towered over them, spanning from horizon to horizon, like a great wave frozen in place. In the sky overhead, where the sun should have been, was a great bloated ball of gas, glowing a dull red but giving no warmth. The Cloud.

Rei turned to the Cloud, who was standing beside her, looking out at the scene Rei had conjured. "This is what will happen to us if you come between us and the sun. We know you need energy just like we do, but surely there must be some way you can get the energy you need without doing this."

The Cloud pointed up to the image of itself high in the sky. "This is the only way," it said simply.

"That can't be," Rei implored. "There must be something you can do. You can get the energy from a further distance, or go on the other side of the sun or open a hole in the cloud to let sunlight through or... **something**!"

"None of those things are possible," the Cloud said, looking back at her now.

"Then think of something else! You can't just let us all die!"

"But you will not cease to be. I will preserve you as I have preserved the others."

"What do you mean preserved? What others?"

"I have been to other stars, seen things such as yourself on their planets. Though none of them have ever spoken to me as you have, I always preserve them until it is time for me to leave."

Rei felt a thrill of hope and fear. Did it mean to do what the Snow Queen had wanted to do? But only until it left? Maybe everyone could be saved after all. "How would you preserve us?"

"Within my memory." Suddenly they were standing on an alien landscape, then another, then another, shifting almost too quickly for Rei to see any of them. Each was utterly unlike the last, yet they were all the same. Creatures of all sorts locked in ice, the final extremities of their death agonies frozen in place. Most showed the fear of animals unable to understand what had happened to their world. But in some she saw the dashed hope and despair of creatures that could understand that their world was ending, feelings that were clear even in faces utterly alien.

Rei screamed, collapsed to the ground, threw her arms over her head. "Stop it! Please, make it stop!"

"It has stopped."

Rei opened her eyes again. They were back on the dark ice field she had found the Cloud on. She found that she was calm again. In the dreamscape, there was no adrenaline to sustain her feeling of horror. But the memory was vivid enough. She got up. Incongruously, they were both still in the school uniform. "Don't you understand? The only thing you've preserved is pictures of corpses. Those people are all dead, and we will be too if you do the same thing here."

"But your lives are so brief, since you must make room for others. You will all cease to be in a very short time, it makes little difference."

"That's just the way our lives are. We live on through our children. It's not just us you would be killing but all the children and their children yet to come."

Shimmer. Vertigo. The Cloud was dressed in a beautiful kimono, kneeling on a blanket spread out on the grass. It might have been just the way she was dressed or the make-up, but she looked like a slightly older version of Rei now. Their picnic was spread out on the blanket. Cherry blossoms covered the trees, fluttered down through the crisp spring air. Nearby was Mamoru, laughing as he wrestled playfully with a little boy and girl.

Rei's mind was screaming, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. Their children. Hers and Mamoru's. Oh God...

"You have given up your dream of children," the Cloud said.

Rei stood up, feeling outraged and violated. First her mother, and now... but no. This too, she would endure. For her. "This is not just about **my** dreams," Rei said. Shimmer. They looked out over Crystal Tokyo, the crystalline spires of Crystal Palace turned red by the sun sitting on the horizon. They were on a broad path overlooking the bay. A young couple walked towards them, a little girl happily skipping along between them. The woman seemed to float along the ground without touching it, as if carried aloft by the stylized wings that graced her elegant white gown. The uniformed man walking with easy grace next to her looked as if he could walk out over the water without even thinking about it. One look at them and it was plain that this was **their** city, that it owed its existence to them. Yet they laughed and chattered with their young daughter like any of the millions of other families who lived under their protection.

"This is the dream my friend holds in her heart. I know she can make it reality, I have seen it with my own eyes. But the city is not there yet, the little girl not even born. It is this dream and all the dreams ever to be that will be lost forever."

The two of them watched the happy family pass them by, oblivious to them as was everything else in the dreamscape. Rei looked at the Cloud. It's expression was unreadable as it watched Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion and their Small Lady walk away. It seemed they stood like that for some time. There came the glimmer of something in the Cloud's face. Comprehension. It looked down to the ground at their feet. Rei followed its gaze, and was stunned by what she saw. Serenity and Endymion lay suspended just below the clear crystal surface of the walkway. They were laid out next to each other, each with hands folded over their breast. Their faces were calm and placid, their eyes closed. A small crystal spire now rose from the ground over each of them. Rei understood that this was their final resting spot. She perceived a third presence there. Deep within Serenity's body, a tiny life that had been snuffed out before it had even properly begun. Rei knew it was just another mirage of the dreamscape, but it evoked an unbearable feeling of grief.

"Is this what I have done?" the Cloud asked.

Rei turned to answer, to plead with the Cloud that it was not done yet, that they must find some other way. But looking up from her friends' graves, she now noticed the change. The crystal floor they stood on went out in all directions now. There was no horizon, it just stretched out to infinity. The sun on the horizon had been transformed into that great red bloated gas cloud hanging over them. The ground was covered by a forest of the same little crystal spires that stood over the graves in front of them. She could glimpse other bodies suspended below the translucent ground nearby.

Rei shivered. It was a graveyard that went on forever.

"Is this what I have done?" the Cloud repeated. Something in its voice prompted Rei to look. Its expression had barely changed, perhaps it stared out over this scene with just a little less detachment than before. But tears streamed down its face. Rei could imagine it sharing her feeling of grief... but on a scale she could not begin to imagine. She wondered if this was the first time it had ever mourned.

"It doesn't matter what you've done. You didn't know. What matters is that you never do it again. You must find a way."

The Cloud turned to face Rei. "I must awaken now," it said. Before Rei could say anything the Cloud began to glow brightly. It lost its form and expanded before Rei's eyes, once again growing into the swarm she had seen before. But this time it rose high into the air, expanding further and further until it merged with the stars up in the sky.

Rei just looked up into the sky, not knowing what to think. It must have left the dreamscape. It must be awakening now. She felt awed by what she had done. She had actually talked to it, made it understand. But was there anything it could do?

Her thoughts suddenly went out to her friends, drifting in space. The longer they stayed there, the more danger they would be in. And now that the Cloud was awakening, there was no telling what would happen. She had to get out of here, wake up, let them know that she was done so that they could take her back. She looked around. It was the field of ice on which she had first appeared. She reached out with her mind, looking for them, looking for the way back.

Rei found herself facing the sunrise. It looked to be a million miles away.

She shivered, suddenly naked again. She didn't even want to think it but... had they somehow gone back with just her body, leaving her spirit to drift out here? Or was she just trapped within her own head, lost in the dream?

Whichever the case, the only symbol of any meaning she could see in this land of symbols was standing before her, large as life.

She began to walk.

# # # #

Rei became aware that somebody was calling her. She opened her eyes, looked up from where she was reclining. A very pretty short-haired woman in a white uniform looked down at her. Rei recognized her, it was Ami's mother. Doctor Mizuno. She smiled. "How are you feeling, Rei-chan?"

"My feet are killing me."

Doctor Mizuno raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? How odd, you haven't been on your feet in a week."

"Has it only been that long?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sleeping Beauty," she said good-naturedly. "Did you want to go back to your nice dream?"

"No, I don't think so."

"In that case, do you think you're up to taking in some solid food?"

Rei became more acutely aware of the black hole in her stomach and the IV needles stuck in her arm. "Definitely."

"Splendid. I'll just have a good look at you first."

It seemed like an eternity before they got around to the food. Rei couldn't eat nearly as much as she felt she should have been able to. She was too numbed to even think to ask anyone about Nomura's Cloud.

# # # #

Not long after they had wheeled out Rei's second meal, the door to her private room opened again. Oh no, they had promised, no more tests today...

But it wasn't the nurse. "Ami-chan!"

"Hi, Rei-chan," Ami said, walking briskly over to her bedside. Her eyes had that worried look, but she was grinning ear to ear. She took Rei's hand, cradled it in both of her own. "How are you feeling?"

"A whole lot better now that you're here. They told me I still couldn't have any visitors today, I was going crazy."

"I really shouldn't be here, but as soon as I heard you were awake, I begged my mom to let me come see you."

"I'm really glad you did," Rei said, squeezing her hand back. She frowned, suddenly looking closely at her friend's face. "Ami... have you been crying?"

Ami's smile faded, her eyes misted over. "We didn't know if you'd ever come out of it. When I heard you were awake..." she choked up.

"Ami-chan..." Rei pulled her into a gentle embrace. They stayed like that while Ami wept quietly.

Rei waited as long as she could stand. She released Ami, which was her cue to do likewise. She sat on the edge of the bed, still holding Rei's hand, reluctant to break the contact with her. Rei asked the question that had been burning in her mind. "Ami... has there been any change with the cloud?"

Ami's worried look melted away, she smiled again. "We're out of danger. The Cloud, it isn't coming anymore."

Rei returned her smile, and they just held hands in a moment of shared relief and joy. But the hesitation and the hint of sadness in Ami's voice gave Rei pause. "Ami, can you tell me exactly what's been happening?"

"Okay," Ami said. As it always did, relaying simple facts calmed her. "We teleported out near the cloud as you entered REM sleep just as we planned. We stayed a very long time, much longer than before. The energy drain was negligible, but just maintaining the protective field around us eventually exhausted us. We wanted to wait until you came to, but... even as it was, we barely made it back. Most of us just fell down and passed out on the lawn.

"We tried waking you then and there, but you didn't respond at all, it was like you were lost in your sleep state. I couldn't see anything wrong with you, couldn't understand why. It was almost a day before we decided to bring you to a hospital. We made a story about just not being able to wake you one morning. Mom and the other doctors were just as baffled as we were. It was almost like those people who had their heart crystals taken away, you just weren't there. I... we really thought we had lost you. We thought we had lost Usagi too, she just went home and locked herself in her room, wouldn't talk to anyone. I hadn't spoken to her at all until I told her about your finally waking up today.

"About a day after we brought you here we started hearing about the changes in the cloud. It was suddenly heating up at a phenomenal rate, releasing incredible amounts of energy. There were signs of all sorts of chemical reactions going on. It's so energetic it's actually visible to the naked eye at night now, everybody's talking about it. Whatever is happening, it's tearing the cloud apart at a fantastic rate. By the time it reaches us, it will be so widely dispersed we'll hardly notice it. The solar wind will literally blow most of it..."

"It found a way..." Rei breathed.

Ami stopped, having taken note of Rei's shocked expression. "We've all been wondering what happened to you, whether you had been able to do something," Ami said carefully. It was just a statement, she was trying not to press Rei for an answer.

But Rei had to tell someone. "I spoke to it, Ami. I found it in the dreamscape, and we talked. I explained what was going to happen to us. It looked like I had made it understand, but when it left me it didn't say anything about what it intended to do. I... I had no idea..."

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Ami said quickly, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Rei looked away, shaking her head. "My God, it's committed suicide." She wondered whether it had been out of remorse or as self sacrifice, a sacrifice for their sakes. She didn't know which she would feel worse about.

"Mom said you can probably have more visitors tomorrow," Ami said brightly, perceiving that a change of subject was in order. "Your grandfather was here every day while you slept, he was almost in as bad a state as Usagi. Yuichirou was in little better shape. They'll be breaking down the doors with the rest of us tomorrow, this room is going to be pretty crowded."

Rei gave her a warm smile. "Thanks, Ami-chan."

Ami got up off the bedside. "I promised mom I wouldn't stay long. I'll tell everyone that you're okay. Any particular messages to pass along?"

Only about a hundred of them, Rei thought. "For now just that... it's good to be back."

"Okay." They said their goodbyes and Ami was about to leave when the door opened again. A young nurse walked in, one that Rei hadn't seen before. She was very pretty and had unusually light hair. She had an almost exaggerated look of grim authority on her face. But that look melted away as soon as she laid eyes on Rei. It was like she had spotted a long lost friend.

There was a shimmering in the air all around the nurse, and suddenly Rei's heart threatened to burst. **No, I'm awake, I can't still be there...**

Usagi stood where the nurse was a moment ago, dressed in her summer school uniform, holding her disguise pen in her hand. Her expression was brimming over with joy and love, but her lip quivered, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Rei-chaaan!" she wailed. Two bounds brought her over to Rei's bed and she leaped. The whole bed rattled at the impact. She couldn't have knocked the wind out of Rei more effectively with a kick to the gut.

"Rei-chan!" she bawled over and over, then she couldn't even manage that and she was just crying like a little girl. Barely recovering, Rei absently returned her embrace.

"Usagi, you **promised** me you weren't going to use that," Ami said, sounding very disappointed.

Usagi was still crying into Rei's soaked shoulder when Ami's mother showed up with a nurse who looked at the girls as if she were deciding who she was going to kill first. As Ami switched on her most charming smile and walked over to them, Rei watched with interest, wondering how she was going to explain this one.

# # # #

Kasukabe and Rei knelt side by side in silent prayer. At length, Rei straightened up and rose to her feet. Kasukabe did likewise. "It's a rather nice setting," he commented.

"Yes, it is," Rei agreed. The little graveyard occupied a clearing on the side of a wooded hill. A little foot path led over to another clearing, where they could just glimpse a small temple building. It was in good shape, but it looked just as old as the graveyard, most of whose stones were showing signs of wear. As befitting ones who had come to pay their respects, Rei was in her shrine maiden robes, Kasukabe in a dark suit.

"But future generations of visitors will be puzzling over this little mystery," Kasukabe said, indicating the small gravestone they had just been praying in front of. Unlike the other stones it looked newly carved, showed no sign of weathering. The incense sticks they had set before it still burned. On the stone were carved four characters that seemed to form a name, but even language scholars might have doubts as to how they should be read. If they were imaginative, they might note that read a certain way the characters could be taken to mean Nomura's Cloud.

"The head priest here was a bit puzzled about it himself. Especially since there are not actually any remains on this spot. But he and my grandfather go back a long way, so he just went along with it. Shall we go back?"

They made their way over to the temple then down the wooded footpath that led back down to the town of Kamakura. Soon they were once again walking through the outskirts of the ancient capital.

"Have you decided what you will tell Nomura?" Rei eventually asked.

"Oh, probably the same as I'll tell everyone else. If the astronomers can't find any good explanation for what happened, we'll just have to assume that something or somebody intervened on our behalf and leave it at that. At any rate, it looks like all that data they collected will keep Nomura and his colleagues happily occupied for years to come."

"And how are the others taking it?" Rei asked. She knew that Kasukabe had disbanded his church. He still believed in his memories of Queen Serenity, but had accepted being mistaken about her divinity.

"There were some... awkward moments at our last gathering," Kasukabe said, his tone indicating that he was understating the case. "But most seemed to accept that I had made an honest mistake misinterpreting my past memories. The ones I'm closest to... the ones who have become my friends, were very understanding."

"Nothing warms the heart like forgiveness," Rei said, thinking of a blue-haired girl with a gentle soul. "Have you thought more about what you plan to do now?"

"I might even go ask for my old job back," Kasukabe said, his mood brightening at the prospect. "With what I've learned in the past year I think I could go back and run that department for them at half their current budget. Running my church on a shoestring has been a real education in itself."

"I feel your pain," Rei said only half jokingly.

Kasukabe chuckled. "Who knows, maybe I can even patch things up with my ex-wife." He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at what he had said to Rei.

She smiled. "I hope things work out for you. Take it from me, you can't let memories of your past life prevent you from living in this one. The Silver Millennium is a beautiful memory, but now that's all it is."

"I'll try to remember that," Kasukabe said. "Still, it seems that those memories have always been triggered by events in my current life. Maybe as time goes, I will remember more. I think I'd like that."

"Well, if you do remember more, be sure to give me a call, okay? I'd love to hear about it."

"Of course, Rei-san. I will."

Rei's smile broadened. "Especially if you've got any dirt on Princess Serenity. I'm sure she was just as good at getting herself into trouble in that life as she is in this one..."

The End

Postscript

This was kind of an oddball story for me to write. There wasn't much "running and jumping" going on, the Sailor Senshi weren't faced with enemies they could just shoot at. And I hope the tone wasn't too grim, but the situation they were faced with kind of determined what sort of mood the characters were in.

I couldn't go without acknowledging the inspiration I got from Fred Hoyle's classic novel "The Black Cloud," where he describes in chilling detail exactly what might happen if an utterly alien being in the form of a gas cloud approached our sun.

Though I gave them a peripheral role, this was my first story where I included the Outer Senshi. In the TV series I've always felt that they were a bit too cold and standoffish towards the Inner Senshi. I tried to soften that a bit, so some may think that my depiction of them is a bit off. Be that as it may, I hope you enjoyed the story.

Ken Wolfe


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